The update is first is speculated to be moved to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) on June 3.
The Pixel 9 series and other handsets from Google will be the first to receive Android 16
Photo Credit: Google
Android 16, the next big operating system (OS) update for Android devices, will be released in June, according to a report. A company official reportedly revealed this information to a publication at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 in Barcelona. Notably, Google has a track record of releasing the next iteration of Android OS updates in August, but it could jump ahead of schedule with the release of Android 16 in June.
Speaking to Android Police at MWC 2025, Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem at Google revealed that Android 16, along with other Android OS updates, are on track for early release this year. Citing challenges within the Android development team, the official highlighted that Google has adopted Trunk Stable development.
Notably, it is a software branching model where designers frequently make small changes to the software's code which is directly tied to a single shared branch. It is said to streamline the merging and integration phases during the development process, potentially speeding up the software's release compared to the traditional feature-based development.
The publication quoted the Google official as saying, “Trunk Stable development means that everyone working on Android is contributing to the same branch of code.”
Despite Google only releasing the second developer beta of Android 16 so far, the update is said to be on schedule for a June 2025 release.
According to previous reports, Android 16 is speculated to be moved to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) on June 3, following which developers will be able to create custom variants of the OS catering to their respective devices and port it for the release. It corroborates the previously leaked timeline which suggested the second quarter of this year for its initial availability on Google Pixel smartphones.
This development builds upon the recent release of the Android 16 Beta 2.1 update to developers and beta testers. While this version did not carry any new features, it brought fixes for crucial issues which impacted the device performance, including connectivity, system stability, and performance.
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