News on Mobile OS Releases, December 2021

Android 12 

Early Android 13 ‘Tiramisu’ build leaks, showing off new lock screen options and more

XDA got their hands on an early build of Android 13 “Tiramisu” and were able to find four notable changes within the build. Given the fact that we’re still a few months out from even a developer preview, it’s very possible that the look and many of the changes seen so far could be removed or altered, but it’s interesting nonetheless to see what Google has in the works.

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Google

You can now preview widgets when customizing Android 12’s homescreen with Dynamic Color

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Google

Classic Power Menu brings wallet and home controls to Android 12’s power menu, root required

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Google

Apple iOS 

iOS 15.3 beta 1 now rolling out to developers

Just a few days after the release of iOS 15.2 to the public, Apple is once again restarting the beta testing process. The company is now rolling out the first betas of iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 to developers and public beta testers, but we don’t expect any major changes with iOS 15.3. iOS 15.3 beta 1 is available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app. As usual, if the update does not immediately appear for download, keep checking, as it sometimes takes a few minutes to roll out to all registered developers. The build number of iOS 15.3 beta 1 is 19D5026g.

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Mac

Rumor: iOS 16 to drop support for iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and first-gen iPhone SE

As the new year begins and with iOS 15.2 released, Apple will start internally focusing on the next major release, iOS 16. According to iPhonesoft, based on knowledge of someone running an internal seed, Apple plans to drop support for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and the original iPhone SE. On the iPad side, iPadOS 16 is said to be incompatible with iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad (fifth-generation), and the 2015 iPad Pro models. Of course, nothing is official until Apple announces iOS 16 at WWDC 2022.

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Mac

Apple stops signing iOS 15.1.1, blocking downgrade from iOS 15.2

Apple stopped signing iOS 15.1.1 for iPhone 13 models and iOS 15.1 for older iPhone models. This means that users who updated their devices to iOS 15.2 can no longer downgrade to iOS 15.1.1 or iOS 15.1. Back in November, Apple had stopped signing iOS 15.1 for iPhone 13 models as those devices received the iOS 15.1.1 update to fix a specific bug affecting this year’s iPhones. Now with iOS 15.2 available, iOS 15.1 and iOS 15.1.1 are no longer signed for any iPhone and iPad models.

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Mac

HarmonyOS 

Huawei HarmonyOS Connect products sale records 100 million yuan

President of Huawei Consumer Business Group – Wang Chenglu announced that HarmonyOS Connect products recorded 100 million yuan on shipped devices, in less than a year. This is a big achievement for the company and a point of focus for the HarmonyOS operating system. Huawei’s goal behind the launch of HarmonyOS Connect Zone is to promote the sale of HarmonyOS products via online and offline channels.

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

Huawei HarmonyOS December 2021 Updates List

It was reported that 141 Huawei devices have been upgraded over the HarmonyOS operating system as of December 2, 2021. The Chinese tech maker has covered the least possible device with HarmonyOS operating. In the meantime, it is available only to the Chinese market. However, it could open for the global HarmonyOS global market in 2022. On the other hand, the company introduced EMUI 12 as the next major software update for global Huawei users. Also, the EMUI 12 beta has started for the flagship models including P40, Mate 40, and Mate 30 series. Meanwhile, Huawei continues to send regular software updates for both Huawei and Honor HarmonyOS powered devices in China. More interestingly, several smartphones have already received this new security patch.

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

HarmonyOS 2.0 Feature Review: Large Folders

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

Huawei HarmonyOS has feature to detect cable and reduce the charging speed

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

EMUI

EMUI 12 Features

Huawei has released the EMUI 12 operating system, which comes with a suite of new features, user interface (UI) design, animation effects, seamless device controller, and other important enhancements over EMUI 11. 

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

Huawei EMUI December 2021 Updates List

Huawei has released a security patch as well as device details for the December 2021 EMUI security patch. However, the month of December 2021 will bring us a lot of new software updates including enhancements, security improvements as well as other parts of the Huawei EMUI software system. Since last month, Huawei has started testing EMUI 12 beta software for different devices including Mate 40 Pro, P40 series as well as Mate 30 Pro devices. Moreover, the company has already delivered the first EMUI 12 beta builds for the corresponding models.

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral