Google accelerates Android updates: Early Android 16 by 2025
Google is changing its Android update schedule to better align with smartphone manufacturers.
5:43 PM EDT, November 2, 2024
It hasn't even been three weeks since Android 15 became available to Pixel phone users. Major brands like Samsung and Xiaomi haven't yet updated their devices, and Google is already planning for Android 16.
Android 16 with an exceptionally early release
Google has officially announced that Android 16 will be released in the second quarter of 2025. The update should therefore reach its first users between the beginning of April and the end of June.
This is an exceptionally early date because for years, Google has aimed for late summer or early fall. With Android 15, the company released the source code on September 3, and the Pixel phones were updated only by October 15.
Why the rush? "We are planning the main release in the second quarter, not the third quarter, to better align the schedule with device launches in our ecosystem, enabling faster availability of the main Android release on more devices," Google explains on its site.
It makes sense since summer and fall are very busy periods for new smartphone launches. Every year, the market is flooded with dozens of new models just before the new version of Android debuts, delaying software distribution. The second quarter does indeed seem like a more optimal time.
Android 16 - public testing will start "soon"
Google announced that a preview version of Android 16 will be released "soon," allowing developers to adjust their applications, manufacturers to start working on updates, and users to get a glimpse of system changes.
However, moving the schedule means that Google is giving itself little time for testing. From the debut of the preview version of Android 15 to the Pixel update, 242 days passed. Meanwhile, only 240 days remain until the end of the second quarter of 2025, so Google would have less time even if the Android 16 preview version were released today. And it has not been released yet.
At the same time, Google argues that the goal of the changes is "to enable faster innovation and a higher level of quality and refinement of releases, without increasing the burden or costs for developers."
