Google to showcase Android 16 at ‘The Android Show: I/O Edition’ on May 13 | Technology News

This marks a major shift in the Android release timeline. Android 15 arrived a few months after Google I/O 2024, although the company did showcase some of its capabilities at the developer conference. This time around, Android 16 is arriving earlier, considering Google recently released the fourth beta, which is the final scheduled update ahead of the stable release.

The Android 16 beta is already available for a variety of devices from brands like OnePlus, OPPO, Xiaomi, realme, iQOO, vivo, and more.

Compared to earlier versions of Android, Android 16 doesn’t introduce many new visible features. However, under the hood, it brings several improvements, including live updates for real-time notifications from delivery and ride-hailing apps, notification cooldown, a redesigned photo picker, accessibility enhancements, and adaptive app layouts for smartphones, tablets, and foldables. Here is the list of devices that are currently participating in the Android 16 beta program.

Android 16 also deeply integrates Gemini into the operating system, further enhancing the usability of Google’s latest AI-powered assistant across different apps and services, and Google is also expected to introduce new Gemini-powered AI experiences with the latest Pixel smartphones.

Android 16 will first roll out to eligible Google Pixel smartphones, followed by select Android smartphones, particularly flagship models and those currently participating in the beta testing process, such as the OnePlus 13, which will arrive with a custom skin on top of Android 16.