Android phones, with smaller screens, were probably not quite expected to be used for multitasking the way tablets are. Which is why when the feture was first added back in March of 2022, only the larger devices got the mini taskbar at the bottom of the screen. The advent of book-style foldables may have changed this somewhat, but the change may be more sweeping when Android 15 rolls around.
As Android Authority reports, Google is optimising the taskbar for smaller screens, allowing phones to have it showing without messing around too much with its display scaling. This feature was discovered with the fourth beta of Android 15, showing it behaving the same way as it does on larger tablet-like screens. Of course, the taskbar itself has been scaled to fit vertical screens the way most phones are used when not playing games or viewing videos.
Also worth mentioning is that the taskbar for tablets running the Google mobile OS have gone through a number of changes since it first launched. Initially, it was a constant on tablet screens, just like the default on, say, Microsoft Windows. When book-style foldables rolled around, the smaller screen in comparison to tablets meant that the taskbar had to be made transient, as in it shows up when you bring it up, and goes away when you don’t need it.
With Android 15, the report notes that you’ll be able to freely switch between the two iterations. And from the beta, it looks like phones are also getting both options. But as the report also notes, it remains to be seen if this feature will ultimately even get the feature when the mobile OS update finally rolls around.
(Source: Android Authority)
