Evolving Android
I have been exploring mobile development for the last 1 year. I worked on both cross-platform and native ways to develop mobile apps. What I found interesting is that MNCs are choosing native platforms instead of cross-platform, while mostly startups go for cross-platform for rapid prototyping and quick project releases. But in the last 6–7 months, native Android has been uplifting to a point where it is becoming as convenient as cross-platform.
The number of Android developers has been continuously increasing, and have seen a fast transition if I look at the last five years in this domain. Android field has definitely grown at a higher pace than most people expected from previous technologies like Java, XML and we are now seeing Compose, KMP, CMP, and AI-assisted coding becoming the standard. I want to share with you what I think is going to be important in the Android development world in the following years, based on my own experience and thoughts.
Most of Us Started with Flutter
Most developers including me started with Flutter nowadays because it is easy to use, learn, and code. You can easily build an app and deploy it with a single codebase since it is multiplatform, which makes it the most usable option for beginners.
On the other side I feel Android Kotlin is not easy for beginners. The ecosystem around it requires a lot to know before you can build anything, it felt hard for me when I first tried. Also, since it is native, for iOS you need to write a separate codebase which makes the work task heavy for mobile developers.
To develop in native Android, we need Android Studio which is quite heavy in comparison to Flutter where VS Code easily works. This is also one of the reasons people prefer Flutter.
But the way Android has evolved in the last 5 years is attracting developers to start native Android development.
2021 Changed Everything: Introduction of Jetpack Compose
But all this changed in 2021 when Jetpack Compose (by Google) was introduced. It replaced all the traditional and outdated XML-style coding with Kotlin files that use prebuilt components.
KMP and CMP
But still, the main problem did not change. The worry of writing different codebases for different operating systems still persisted. Most recently we got the introduction of KMP and CMP, and this is where I feel things will change. This is the next big thing in Android.
If you have been working in the ecosystem, probably heard KMP and CMP mentioned together, sometimes even interchangeably. They are not the same thing, and confusing them often leads to poor architectural decisions.
KMP vs CMP
Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) lets you write your core logic once in Kotlin and share it across Android, iOS, Desktop, and Web. With KMP alone, you still write native UI per platform: Jetpack Compose on Android, SwiftUI on iOS.
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Compose Multiplatform (CMP), extends Compose’s declarative UI model to iOS, Desktop, and Web. So now you can share not just the logic but the UI as well. With CMP, that same @Composable function can render on Android, iOS, and Desktop with minimal platform glue.
The key relationship is this: KMP can exist without CMP, but CMP cannot exist without KMP. If someone says they are “using CMP but not KMP,” they are misunderstanding the stack.
KMP is about what your app does (validation & business rules). CMP is about what your app looks like (screens & navigation).
Impact of AI
And now AI is trending, so I definitely want to talk about how it is affecting Android development.
At Google I/O 2026, Google announced that you can now build native Android apps directly inside Google AI Studio from a prompt. You describe what you want and it generates prototype.
Many tools are available in the market. Many developers use MCP integrations for going from Figma designs to working frontend code. Cursor, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot are already part of many developers’ daily workflows.
This does not mean developers become irrelevant. It means the repetitive parts get automated, and developers focus more on architecture, user experience, and the logic that actually makes an app unique.
What Will Change Next
This part is purely my opinion, and I could be wrong about some of these, but based on what I have seen so far.
So according to the changes we have seen, Android has the potential to become a strong cross-platform option since KMP and CMP give you both native iOS and native Android from a shared Kotlin codebase.
Recently reading JetBrains Article on what next new features we will see coming next. They are targeting Compose for Web, which is moving to Beta for broader browser support, and the latest Compose Multiplatform 1.11.0 already brings upgraded native features. You can follow the news here: https://lp.jetbrains.com/cmp-for-web/
Whenever these updates go live and stabilize, they will bring significant changes and attract more developers to this ecosystem.
I feel there is a pretty good job market for Android developers coming in the future. Android is becoming easier day by day.
What I Take Away From All This
I started with Flutter because native felt hard, and many of us did the same. But the Android ecosystem evolved.
The field is evolving fast, and the developers who will do well in the coming years are the ones who keep moving with it. The market is growing, the tools are getting better, and Android as a platform is more exciting to work with now than it has ever been. So let’s be prepared and continuously enhance our skills and be ready to move with this evolving ecosystem.
These are just my personal takeaways from the experience, and I’m happy to hear different viewpoints. If you see things differently or disagree with any of this, I would love to hear your perspective. That is how we all learn.
