In 2020, everything is cake — including Android 11. Android VP of engineering Dave Burke revealed the internal codename “Red Velvet Cake” in an interview with All About Android, via Droid Life.
Google’s alphabetical dessert naming scheme was an Android tradition for years, dating back to Android 1.5 Cupcake in 2009. But last year, instead of naming Android Q after an obscure pastry tart or candy, Google made the choice to desert desserts entirely for its public releases in favor of numerical names instead, beginning with Android 10 and continued with the upcoming release of Android 11 this fall.
But that’s not the whole story. As Google’s Sameer Samat, VP of product management for Android, told The Verge last year, the company is still using alphabetical, dessert-based codenames internally for new Android releases. Burke revealed last year that Android Q had been internally known as “Quince Tart” and likely would have been called “Queen Cake” had the decision to continue using tasty titles continued.
Red Velvet Cake appears to be the continuation of that tradition for this year’s version of Android, which would have been named Android R under the old naming scheme. It goes to show: it’s cake all the way down.
