Google has confirmed that Android 16 will roll out earlier than usual. It aims for a release in the second quarter of next year, likely between April and June. This shift is to better match the timing of device launches within the Android ecosystem. This will allow new smartphones and other Android devices to adopt the latest operating system as soon as they hit the market. Or perhaps, Android OEMs will have more time to update their devices. By aligning Android updates more closely with hardware release cycles, Google hopes to improve user access to the latest features and enhance the overall Android experience across a broader range of devices.
Android 16 launches in the second quarter of 2025; A Second Release will happen in Q4 of 2025
According to the new report, Android 16, the final version of Android’s next update will be out in the second quarter of the next year. That means the release will arrive sometime between April and June. The company says that the new strategy is to “better align with the schedule of the device launches” as we’ve written above.
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To recall, Android 15 arrived officially only a few weeks ago. Curiously, Google decided to launch the Pixel 9 series earlier than usual in August this year. Since Android 15 was not finalized, the new smartphones were released with Android 14. It broke up a long tradition of seeing new Pixel smartphones debuting new Android versions. Everything will be back to normal in the next year with Android 16 launching earlier. Interestingly, we could even see an official release happening in May when Google holds its developer conference the Google I/O. This early release would allow the search giant to launch both the Pixel 10 series and the Pixel 9a with the latest Android version straight out of the box.
One notable piece of info that comes straight from Google is that there will be a second Android release in 2025. This second release will come in the fourth quarter (October to December). However, that will be a “minor release”. It will “pick up feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes since the major release”. That could pretty much be Android 16.1, which would mark the return of the sub-version updates.