Google makes a big change in the way he publishes Android updates next year. The next version of Android, likely called Android 16, will be available to software developers and device makers in the second quarter of 2025 instead of the third, which should allow app makers and phone companies to prepare their products to the new software more quickly. .

This is a big deal for several reasons, the biggest being that Android 16 will likely come to your phone faster than this year’s. Android 15which was notably launched after Google Pixel 9 Series instead of being by their side as usual. The rollout schedule always varies depending on the device manufacturer, but part of the reason Google is moving the major Android release forward to the second quarter is because it more closely aligns with new device launches.

However, generally speaking, this change could help facilitate a new wave of applications with more AI integration, given that developers will have access to the latest machine learning and AI resources even sooner. Google AI.

“We are at a once-in-a-generation moment to completely reimagine what our smartphones can do and how we interact with them,” said Google’s Seang Chau, who earlier assumed the role of vice president and general manager of the Android platform. this year, said in an interview with CNET. “It’s a really exciting time for smartphones, and we’ve been thinking a lot about what we want to do next with them.”

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In addition to advancing the major release, Google will roll out a minor update in Q4 2025 with feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes. This is a notable change from Google’s usual release schedule, but it’s just one of many changes the company is making to how it distributes Android updates in an effort to add features more frequently.

Since Android is open source, it must be able to run on all kinds of devices made by different companies with varying specifications, which means rolling out a new version of the software at the same time is challenging, if not impossible. Google Triple project from about seven years ago, which gives chipmakers easier access to parts of the code needed for preliminary optimizations, was an example of an effort to speed up the update process. Another sign that the days of big annual updates are behind us, Google has also gotten into the habit of launching Pixel updates quarterly for its own range of smartphones.

The common thread through all of these changes, including Google’s new approach of releasing Android in two waves, is to roll out new Android features more quickly. This ambition is more important than ever as generative AI models play a role greater role in smartphone software. Google is working to ensure that Android (and the apps running on it) can keep up with the rapid pace of generative AI, while maintaining reliable performance.

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“Things are moving pretty quickly in the AI ​​world right now,” Chau said. “So we want to make sure that these developers (application programming interfaces), especially around machine learning and AI, are available to our developers so that they can develop these capabilities more quickly and transmit them more quickly to our users.”

Releasing Android’s SDK early also allows Google to gather feedback from app creators more quickly so it can fine-tune its models to work for the specific use cases developers are looking for. This could allow apps to leverage generative AI in new ways, making their services more useful. Chau cites a potential example of a game developer using AI to generate character dialogue rather than scripting conversations. Another example could involve the use of AI for content moderation.

Chau believes app developers play a critical role in finding new use cases for generative AI that extend beyond the features companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple have already created for phones , such as text rewriting and summarization tools.

And he is far from the only one thinking about the future of applications. Qualcomm, which develops the chips that power Android devices from companies like Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus, shared a similar vision during its Snapdragon Summit last week. During the keynote, Qualcomm highlighted a concept that involved a shopping app integrated with a banking app so you could simply tell the digital storefront that you want to use your debit card for the purchase.

“These are the kinds of things that we know are useful,” Chau said, referring to existing AI tools such as text summaries. “But there are probably a bunch of other things that we haven’t thought of that developers want to use for their apps.”