Long-awaited feature should finally come true

For Android 12, Google seems to have made a big point on the wish list of many smartphone owners. The new function is intended to give users more options for customizing their devices. Nice side effect: The gap to the iPhone competition could increase again.

After years of rather small leaps, which were more evolution than revolution, Android 12 could again be a major update for the popular mobile operating system – at least in terms of looks. According to the latest reports, the successor to Android 11 is said to have a long-awaited feature: an extensive theme function.

Android 12 is to receive extensive theme functionality

So far, users can only select an accent color and decide whether they want to use a light or dark theme. The latter is particularly useful on OLED screens and also reduces energy consumption. In Android 12, however, so 9to5Google, the theming function should be properly drilled out. Users should also be able to set a general system color and even the option to color apps should be enabled, provided that the relevant app developers make use of it.

With Android 12, smartphone owners would have the opportunity to set themselves apart from the crowd and to customize their mobile phone according to their own taste – more than is currently the case with background images, icon packs or widgets.

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The lead over the iPhone is greater again

An extensive theme function would also have advantages for Google and the entire Android ecosystem. For years, Android manufacturers could rightly point out that users of their smartphones had more customization options than iPhone owners. With every iOS update, however, this lead has become smaller and smaller. Most recently, Apple even integrated support for widgets in iOS 14. With such a feature in Android 12, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi and Co. could again set themselves apart more clearly.