Lilbits: Pixel 9a and Android 16 are coming in early 2025, ChatGPT is now a search engine, and Thunderbird comes to Android

Google is shifting its Android release schedule, with the next major update coming in the first half of 2025 rather than the second half. That means net-gen flagship phones from companies like Samsung are more likely to ship with an operating system that isn’t nearly a year old.

In other recent tech news from around the web, more details about the upcoming Google Pixel 9a have leaked, OpenAI is turning ChatGPT into a search engine (among other things), one of the only battle royale games available on the Steam Deck is… no longer available on the Steam Deck, and Mozilla has launched the first version of its Thunderbird email app for Android.

Here’s a roundup.

Google Pixel 9a Complete Specs Leak [Android Headlines]

According to the latest leak, the Pixel 9a will launch early next year with a 6.3 inch, 120 Hz display, a Google Tensor G4 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of storage. It’s said to have a 5,000 mAh battery, 18W wired charging, 7.5W wireless, and a 48MP primary camera plus 13MP ultrawide.

More frequent Android SDK releases: faster innovation, higher quality and more polish

Google has historically released new versions of Android in the third quarter of the year, but Android 16 is coming in Q2, 2025 “to better align with the schedule of device launches across our ecosystem.”

Introducing ChatGPT search [OpenAI]

I’d be excited about a new rival to Google given how much less reliable Google search has been in recent years. But as a web publisher that’s already a bit salty about the fact that now Google uses AI summaries to pull data from websites and use them to answer user questions without sending them to those websites, I’m not exactly thrilled by the idea of a search engine that puts most of its links behind a “sources” button that you need to click on.

Apex Legends is taking away its support for the Steam Deck and Linux [The Verge]

One of the only big name battle royale games with official Steam Deck support is pulling the plug on… Steam Deck support. Basically the game’s publisher says it’s too easy to cheat on systems running Linux.

Thunderbird is now available on Android [Thunderbird]

Thunderbird 8.0 for Android is now available. It’s basically Mozilla’s modified, branded version of the open source K-9 Mail app with support for importing data from K-9 or the Thunderbird desktop app.

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