Android phones will come with fewer pre-installed apps

Google is relaxing its requirements about which apps have to be permanently installed on Android handsets.

Google+, Google Play Games, Google Play Books and Google Newsstand are among the apps to lose out. The new Samsung Galaxy Note 5, for example, already doesn't have Google+ pre-installed.

Up to now, these apps were part of a package deal. So, if a handset manufacturer wanted to include Gmail, it also had to install Google+ and Google Newsstand.