You all are probably aware by now that Samsung and LG both unveiled their 2016 flagship phones yesterday at MWC 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. You may have also heard that the G5 comes with no app drawer present by default. In addition, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have an option in the "Samsung Lab" settings to turn off the app drawer. Is this just a decision made independently by the largest Android OEMs, or is there something bigger going on here?

There has been a rumor circulating that Google has plans to rid Android of the app drawer officially in Android N. Why would they do this? Well, I'd guess it has a lot to do with making Android a bit more palatable to possible iOS converts. The iPhone has all the app icons on the home screen, and some iOS users that switch to Android find the app drawer confusing. This may sound strange to an Android user, but this is in fact very true. In 2015 I had my mom make the switch from an iPhone 6 to the S6 Edge and one of her first gripes was about the app drawer.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the app drawer and the differences between Android and iOS. On the other hand, I do see why Google may rid Android of the default app drawer. Making Android at first glance more friendly to iOS converts certainly can't hurt the brand and in fact, will likely help. Luckily, LG and Samsung both made the app drawer an option. With the G5 you can reenable the app drawer in settings. On the Galaxy S7 you can turn off the app drawer in settings. After some thought, I think LG is taking the right approach here. If the app drawer is off by default, possible iOS converts will feel at home, while hardcore Android users can enable it in settings if they want it.

At the end of the day, Android is all about choice. I love that, and I'm sure you do too. If Google indeed ousts the default app drawer, it won't be the end of the world. The option to enable it in the settings will likely be there, along with the ability to install your favorite third party launcher. I could definitely see Google making this decision this summer with Android N. LG and Samsung may have provided the biggest hint towards a world without a default app drawer with their flagship launches.

What do you think? Does it disgust you that Google, Samsung, and LG may cater to iOS users converting to Android? Let me know in the comments or hit me on Twitter to discuss further!