New Android-based smartphones to come with fewer pre-installed apps

New Delhi: Thanks to Google’s little tweak to its app requirements, upcoming Android smartphones will be manufactured with fewer pre-installed apps.

Pre-installed apps or bloatware tend to eat up the default internal storage offered by smartphone manufacturers and leaving just a part of it for actual use.

However, Google has now relaxed its requirements about which apps have to be permanently installed, which means apps like Google+, Google Play Games, Google Play Books and Google Newsstand will no longer come pre-installed, The Verge reports.

Google’s handset partnership requires manufacturers to develop devices with app requirements. If HTC wants to build an Android handset with Gmail app, it would also be required to offer customers Google+ and Newsstand.

Relaxing the policy doesn’t mean the apps will no longer be available. These will instead be regularly updated and available for download through the Google Play Store.