Spot the difference: Google reveals a new Android logo and wordmark

Android as an OS has matured a lot over the years. Android’s identity has matured alongside – the logo evolved from a full-size Bugdroid to the Bugdroid head we now associate with Android. The wordmark has also evolved through a few iterations, reaching its easy-to-read avatar in 2019, which we are all familiar with now. Sneakily, Google has updated the Android logo and the wordmark to its 2023 avatar.

9to5Google spotted Google widely using the new Android logo and wordmark without officially announcing the change. The new Bugdroid logo is 3D, thanks to plenty of light and shadow play. In typical Bugdroid fashion, it can be played around with to bring out different versions to suit the subject theme, although the official logo remains the regular green Bugdroid.

The “Android” wordmark gets a new font and also starts with the “A” capitalized. This is after a decade of having “android” always in the lowercase. The new font also pays some homage to previous fonts, with rounded “n” and “r,” though it remains to be seen how recognizable the word remains to average users.

Google has been suspiciously sneaky about this change. When Android’s last brand refresh happened in 2019, a proper announcement highlighted the change and the inspirations behind it. But this time, Google has not made any official announcements yet.

The report mentions that the new logo was first spotted at CES in January 2023. The publication also came across the wordmark in an ad for Android talking about the first-party apps on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

We also saw the new logo being used at Google I/O. Still, at the time, it appeared to be a re-imagination of the Bugdroid avatar instead of a permanent branding change, as Google had not made any official announcements.

The official Android website continues to use the older logo and wordmark. Google’s press corner also distributes the older Android logo as a press asset. Android’s brand guidelines also reference the old logo and wordmarks only.

We did spot the new 3D logo in several newsroom announcements from Google I/O 2023, like the one on generative AI, the Android ecosystem, and the Find My Device network announcement.

Google confirmed the “new brand identity” to 9to5Google with the following statement:

We’re showcasing some elements of our new brand identity on various surfaces, including our CES booth from earlier this year and other campaign materials like digital & banner ads. We’ll have more to share in the coming months.

We’ve reached out to Google for the standalone assets and will update the article when we hear back from them.

Once the branding starts rolling out widely, expect the new branding to reach your Android phone’s splash screens after a system update. Until then, you can enjoy the older branding whenever you boot up your phone.