You would think that the newly-announced Pixel phones from Google would be at the top of the list of devices that can be part of the Android Q Beta program. The bad news is that while they were part of that list eventually, for some unexplained reason, the two new phones were removed from it. The good news is that there is a note on the official page stating that both smartphones will be eligible for the beta program once again come June.
When Google announced at the I/O conference the list of phones that could participate in the Android Q Beta program, some people were confused as to why the two new phones they unveiled weren’t part of it. There were 21 devices in the list initially, which included all the other six Pixel devices plus some from Asus, Huawei, OnePlus, Tecno, Xiaomi, Sony, Nokia, Oppo, LG, Essential, Vivio, and RealMe.
Later on, they did amend the list and included both the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3a XL. So those who had those two phones were then able to opt in to the beta program. Later on though, according to the Android Police and “eagle-eyed Redditors”, they noticed that support for Android Q beta was only for the 6 earlier Pixel devices. There was a note in the official page for the beta program that the two new Pixel devices “will be eligible in June”.
Now as to why they were not part and then part of and then not part of the list again, things are pretty unclear. Obviously, there are some kinds of technical issues and maybe compatibility problems which they are still trying to fix. Unfortunately, those that we said were able to enroll in the program with their Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are now having issues even if they try to downgrade back to Pie.
Meanwhile, the Q Beta 3 system images are still up and available for download so maybe someone forgot to take them down or they’re leaving it up there deliberately. Either way, let’s just wait for June when the two devices will officially be back for the Android Q Beta program.
