Qualcomm leak confirms next Android version inbound

Google’s yearly developer conference in May is still a little while away, and despite no hard evidence it should surprise no one to hear that the plan is to release the next version of Android during the event.

It’s not easy to keep a secret on the Internet, and Qualcomm will likely spend the rest of the day learning that as their legal team scrambles to squash a leaked document that points to their involvement in the next version of Android.

Since the first public release of Android, Google has stuck to a Linux-style alphabetical naming system for their Operating System. Each letter of the alphabet is turned into a code name for that version of Android, and all of the code names so far have been common desserts. We’re on our way to the “K” version of Android this year, and while the Android team at Google IO last year assured everyone that there had been no decision regarding which dessert they would go with, Key Lime Pie is the most popular choice in the Android ecosystem so far.

To give further proof that Android version K is right around the corner, Qualcomm accidentally published a document recently that confirmed the chip company was working with Google on the upcoming update.

As the dominant force in mobile processors today, it comes as no surprise that Qualcomm would be one of the first to collaborate with Google on the OS. Qualcomm’s LTE-ready processors have been in nearly every major Android phone of 2012, and will more than likely continue to dominate in 2013.

The documentation leaked by Qualcomm gave no real information regarding the next version of Android, so we still don’t know what version number or features to expect in version K. Qualcomm’s early participation will hopefully make it easier for manufacturers that have invested heavily inSnapdragon S4 processors to update to the next version quickly, though it is worth noting that so far no hardware but the Nexus devices are currently running Android 4.2.

We’d share the documentation that Qualcomm published accidentally, but it appears that the legal team at Qualcomm has been busy sending takedown notices to anyone who publishes the information. This could be the start of a three month long cycle of leaks leading up to the release of the next version of Android and the hardware it will run on at Google IO 2013.