Android has got a major design change with the coming of Android 12 and Material you, and so the stock Google apps like Google Dialer followed. All apps have adapted to this new UI change so far, but apparently, Google is not done with these changes just yet. It is good news as certain parts still need to be improved to the new standards such as the dialer.
New and Improved Google Dialer
In the old design of Google Dialer, we see flat buttons for numbers, no clear distinctions in the borders just like in the older versions. It was a shame that we did not see any noticable change in this part of the app. Now with the new update however, these buttons are rounded up, having a clear distinction as to where one ends and the other begins. Unfortunately, that is the only change, and it is not really much.
On the other hand, Google actually has a great candidate for the dialer buttons, which is already implemented into Android‘s new Material You system. If you haven’t yet set up a pin protected lockscreen yet, you should! The buttons used to enter in your pin code and unlock the screen are actually a perfect design for the new dialer. It really gives you the Material You vibe, unlike the dialer buttons. One can only hope that Google some day improves the dialer buttons to this level.