Android’s status bar got a fresh coat of paint with Material 3 Expressive, but the latest Android 16 QPR1 beta swaps the position of the Wi-Fi and network icons.
In Android, and in turn on Pixel devices, the status bar has long shown the Wi-Fi, cellular network, and battery icons from left to right. But in the latest Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 release, Google swaps those positions. The network icon now appears to the left of the Wi-Fi icon.
It’s a switch that objectively doesn’t matter, but it’s also one that’s weirdly annoying when you first notice it, and hard to ignore afterwards.
Why the change? We can only speculate at this point, but it’s hard to ignore that this new layout matches that of iOS. Coincidence?
We’re still digging into Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2, so check back for more, and let us know in the comments if you’ve spotted anything we haven’t!
More on Android 16:
- Pixel Launcher search bar gets new Google ‘G’ logo with Android 16 QPR1 Beta
- This is Android 16’s desktop mode – a little broken, but the start of something good [Gallery]
- How to install the Android 16 QPR1 Beta on Google Pixel and try the big redesign
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