Google reveals that Android 16 will arrive in the second quarter of 2025

This year, Android 15 arrived later than its predecessors. Instead of being released in the third quarter, the new version of Android began rolling out to eligible devices just over a week ago. In 2025, Google will not revert to a Q3 release for Android 16, but to an even earlier Q2 release!

The information comes from an official article published on the Android Developer Blog which indicates that there will be two versions of Android in 2025. The first is a major release in the second quarter and a minor release in the fourth quarter. The reason the major version is coming sooner is because it aligns with the release schedule of devices in the Android ecosystem and allows more devices to get the major version sooner.

This makes sense considering that many manufacturers typically schedule new device launches in the third quarter, sometimes spilling over into the fourth, but ship their phones with an older version of Android. Google itself fell into this situation this year, since the Pixel 9 (available on Amazon for $899) shipped with Android 14 instead of Android 15.

The Android Q4 2025 release will bring feature updates, optimizations, bug fixes, and new APIs for developers, after the release of the major update in Q2. However, there will be no behavioral changes impacting applications. From this explanation, it looks like we’re seeing a return to the days of Android Jelly Bean, where the Android version had a decimal point. In this case, the fourth quarter release could be some sort of Android 16.1.

The new release schedule means that Android 16, codenamed Baklavawill begin testing sooner than expected and people with eligible devices should receive developer previews soon.

Translator: Ninh Ngoc Duy – Editorial Assistant – 451873 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2008

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