- Android 16 will officially start rolling out sometime in June.
- This was confirmed by Google's Director of Product Management for Pixel and Android system UI, Allen Huang.
- The update will not bring Material 3 Expressive, as they are scheduled to arrive later this year.
Android 16 is shaping up to be one of the most significant Android updates in years, thanks to the addition of Material 3 Expressive, alongside several other new changes coming with the software release. Now, we finally have an official release window as to when to expect the update to arrive on your Pixel devices.
Google held their Android Show: I/O Edition on May 13, where they revealed all the new goodies coming to Android later this year. During the press briefing ahead of the event, Google’s Director of Product Management for Pixel and Android system UI, Allen Huang, shared the exact month for the release of Android 16.
He mentioned, “So, the updates for Material Expressive are going to be available on Pixel devices first later this year, but it’s not going to be part of the public release in June”. Now, those of you who have been following Android 16 with us closely already knew that the update was scheduled to arrive sometime in May or early June. So it isn’t exactly a surprise.
The new version has reached platform stability with Beta 4 already, and we can expect Google to share an exact date in the Google I/O event coming next week. Once the stable releases, other phone makers will also start finalizing their version of Android 16, like Samsung with One UI 8.
It is worth noting that during the initial release, we won’t get to see all the new and shiny features like Material 3 Expressive. Those will arrive later with subsequent quarterly Pixel updates. So honestly, I am more excited for those builds than I am for the initial Android 16 launch. But do tell us your thoughts on the same in the comments below.
