GoKawiilEvery year, MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona helps set the tone for the tech industry. It may no longer be the event where the smartphone calendar officially begins — that distinction now largely belongs to Samsung’s Unpacked — but it remains a major stage where companies unveil new hardware, showcase emerging ideas, and hint at the direction mobile technology may take in the months ahead.
Of course, Google and Android are at the very center of this business, and on the sidelines of MWC 2026, I sat down with Sameer Samat, President of the Android Ecosystem, to talk about what’s next for the platform. Our conversation ranged from Android’s AI-driven future and the role of Gemini to sideloading concerns and even which phones currently excite the person responsible for guiding the largest operating system in the world.
Android 17 is about doing less “digital laundry”
Naturally, our conversation began with Android 17 and what to expect from it. With the next version of Android already taking shape and Google pushing out new betas at a steady pace, I asked Samat how he sees the platform evolving as Gemini becomes more agentic and integrated into the operating system.
According to Samat, the shift is bigger than simply adding more AI features.
“I think Android 17 is moving from an operating system to an intelligent system,” he said, reiterating what he recently said during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event.
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Google has been steadily integrating Gemini across its products, but Samat suggested the next phase will go deeper by “re-architecting” Android itself so AI can handle tasks more intuitively and naturally.
“We want our devices and our software to help people do more of what they love to do and less of what feels like digital laundry,” Samat said.
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