What you need to know
- After rolling out two developer previews of Android 16, the search giant is likely to launch its first beta this month.
- According to a recent comment from a Googler, we are likely to see the first betas of Android 16 on January 22, February 19, and March 12, respectively.
- We will likely see a couple more updates, followed by the official rollout in the second quarter.
Google began early previews of the much-anticipated Android 16 last November with the rollout of the first developer preview. Very quickly, the next version of the operating system followed. However, a new tip has now indicated we might be seeing the first beta releases to the public as soon as this week to the masses.
According to Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug’s new findings, we are likely to see the first beta rollout of Android 16 as early as January 22—right in time for the Unpacked event, where Samsung is preparing to launch the Galaxy S25 series.
On the other hand, the second beta is believed to be coming on February 19, and the Android 16 beta 3 should be arriving on March 12 to compatible Android phones.
The release schedules’ dates are spotted through a comment on Android Gerrit — made by a Googler — and it evidently puts the Android 16 beta releases significantly months before when compared to the previous iteration, Android 15 beta releases.
Google has already noted that Android 16 will have an earlier official rollout than Android 15, and the released Android 16 developer previews were already an indication. New findings from the publication only reaffirm the case.
As mentioned, the Android 16 is expected to ship to Pixel devices by the second quarter of this year, which usually wasn’t the case before. The publication further notes that with the hinted beta release schedule, the latest operating system from Google is likely to arrive at a stable state after which, users can expect a couple of other beta releases followed by the official rollout. It could mean right before the Google IO event, which is yet to be announced by the search giant.
The Android 16 developer previews, on the other hand, introduced several new notable features. The second preview version has introduced “private space, ” which happens to be a new privacy-focused functionality allowing users to hide important apps in a secure and separate profile. Alongside such features, new security measures are also in place with Android 16.