For the past decade, Google has released major Android updates in the fall after an extensive development and beta preview process, but for 2025 that’s changing. Google is now planning its major release, expected to be Android 16, for the second quarter instead of the third, confirming a recent report from Android Authority.

THE the announcement says it will be “Better align with the release schedule of devices in our ecosystem, so more devices can benefit from the major Android release sooner.” Other changes Google is talking about today include improvements to the Play Store, where users can share their preferences for better recommendations on new apps, as they already did for games, and in development, where Google adds more Gemini AI capabilities for “write, refactor”. , and document » code in Android applications.

The new update schedule addresses a problem with the Android ecosystem that we’ve been discussing since at least 2016, with third-party phones waiting months or longer to get the latest updates. Sure, Google Pixel phones were the first to get the latest releases, but what about everyone else? A new schedule could make it easier for more manufacturers to release new devices with the latest features available on day one, instead of waiting for future updates to add things like Circle to Search.

In the new model, Google tells developers that there will be a major release in the second quarter, as well as a minor release of the SDK in the fourth quarter that more closely resembles the current quarterly releases that add new features without changing the systems under them much. -jacent. This will involve moving forward with compatibility testing, but the other benefit is that apps might have reason to support new features – like ongoing notifications on iPhone Live Activities, for example – because more devices will be able to use them immediately.