Android 16 Timeline: Expect Beta in January, Public Release in Q2

Google has released its first Android 16 Developer Preview and with it a general overview for the timeline of its latest Android OS upgrade. Earlier this year, we learned that Android 16’s release was getting bumped up to Q2, but now, we have much more detail concerning when to expect the first public beta, as well as when Google intends to reach the Platform Stability phase.

Below you’ll see a timeline. What we gather from it is straightforward enough. Public beta updates for Android 16 will start in January, followed by beta updates that introduce new features. Platform Stability is scheduled for March and April, then in Q2 of next year, we will have the public release of Android 16.

Two API Releases in 2025

As previously detailed back in October, Google will have two API releases in 2025. We’ll have the Major SDK Release in Q2 (that being Android 16), following by a Minor SDK Release, which we assume to be labeled as Android 16.1 or something similar.

The beauty of this adjusted timeline is that it better aligns with Google’s hardware releases. This year, we saw the Pixel 9 lineup launch with Android 14 (2023’s release), which is not common practice for Google. This bump in release for Android 16 means we can essentially guarantee that Pixel 10 will launch with the latest Android OS from Google.

Naturally, we’ll keep you posted on each release, especially that beta launch. We know not everyone is comfortable running Developer Preview builds and are more happy running the public beta. It’s coming soon.

// Google