Microsoft Surface Duo will get Android 12L, Google confirms it's not a fork

Microsoft and Google said that Surface Duo should be the first foldable large-screen device equipped with Android 12L. The search giant also emphasized that the new version is not a "fork" of the original Android operating system.

Andrei Popescu, VP of Android Engineering, confirmed in a rather short blog post that the Microsoft Surface Duo will get Android 12L "later this year." The foldable device recently became eligible for Android 11. While Android 12L development for Surface Duo appears to be progressing quickly, Google has yet to commit to a concrete roadmap.

Android 12L appears to be the first iteration of Android since Honeycomb, specifically optimized for large-screen devices like tablets and foldables. However, Popescu made it clear that Android 12L is not a fork or another parallel release:

We're bringing 12L to your favorite tablets and foldables starting later this year , with updates planned from Samsung, Lenovo and Microsoft. We'll continue to build more features and capabilities to help you get the most out of your big-screen devices with Android 13 and beyond.

This basically means Android 12L is focused solely on new form factors. Its core functionality will be baked into Android 13 and above. Google has previously shown how Android 12L users can "drag and drop any app from the taskbar to enter split-screen mode so you can do two things at once." Last year, the company revealed how a dual-pane notification screen would offer quick controls on one side and notifications on the other.

Microsoft Surface Duo launched Android 10 at the end of 2019. After more than two years of waiting, users are starting to receive Android 11. Moving forward, it looks like Microsoft will be skipping Android 12 development and deployment for Surface Duo/Surface Duo 2 and instead jumping straight to Android 12L.

Interestingly, Microsoft Launcher already delivers some of the features and UI elements promised by Android 12L. However, there is more to the operating system. The APIs Google will provide for Android 12L should help developers optimize their apps for foldables, dual-screen devices, and tablets.

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