Last year’s biggest mobile software story was Apple’s divisive new “Liquid Glass” design style. Then, this year started with hints of Google bringing a similar look to Android 17 on Pixel phones. Google has directly denied any inspiration, but the latest beta tells a different story.
Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3 has been available to the Pixel 6 and newer for a few days, and it’s mostly a pretty boring update. That tends to happen when we’re so close to the official stable release. However, the glass-like blur effects that we started to see four months ago are expanding to more areas of the operating system.
Originally, the new blur effect could be seen on the volume slider, expanded volume menu, and power menu. Now, it’s showing up in the home options pop-up menu, home screen folders, and widget picker as well—though Google seems to have forgotten the app menu pop-up. That’s in addition to the notification shade, quick settings toggles, and app drawer, which had already been given some slight transparency in Android 16.
The screenshots below show Android 16 on the left, Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3 on the right.
I’m having a bit of fun with Google in the title of this article, but I should be clear that I don’t actually think this new style is copying Liquid Glass. Both feature heavy translucency and blurring, but Apple’s implementation is more inspired by literal glass—sort of a modern take on skeuomorphism. That being said, it’s interesting to watch design trends shifting in real time.
It wasn’t long ago that Pixel software was basically the “War on Transparency.” Every UI element I’ve mentioned in this article was completely opaque and devoid of gradients in Android 15, including the notification shade and Quick Settings toggles. Material Design has been all about solid colors and flatness for over a decade—every iteration removing more shadow and depth.
Here’s Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3 compared to a few areas in Android 15 before they were translucified in Android 16.
Google can firmly say “Liquid Glass on Android” is not happening because of course it isn’t. But it would be a bit oblivious not to notice the similarities, intentional or not. Despite the “Material” branding, we’re witnessing the biggest design shift in Android since Ice Cream Sandwich. The “Material Design” from the Android 5.0 Lollipop days is long gone.
11 years ago today, a massive update changed Android forever
Although Android still receives major updates every year, they’re nowhere near as transformative as those from the early days of the OS. One of the biggest milestones was Android Lollipop, which began rolling out via OTA updates on November 12, 2014. Let’s take a look at everything that made this update so special.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
