Google is first sending developers to preview Android 16 to speed up the release of the feature

Google is releasing a developer preview of Android 16 to speed up the release of the feature to devices.

This is a big change in the Android release schedule since, a few years ago, Google released its first developer Android beta in Q2, with a stable release coming out after July. With the new system, the stable version of Android 16 will be released in Q2 2025.

Google would like to reduce fragmentation, where different devices run on different versions of Android, with this move. In competition with iOS, this feature would also allow device manufacturers to make Android’s core features available to more users quickly.

However, Google will need to make sure that the first major release of Android 16 is stable so that developers can build on it without worrying about their apps breaking.

The company added that in addition to releasing a major version of the SDK in Q2 2025, it will also have a minor release of the SDK in Q4 2025 with new developer APIs, which may release features and functionality for developers sooner.

“We’re planning major releases a quarter earlier (Q2 than Q3 in years past) to better align with device launch schedules across our ecosystem, so more devices can get major Android releases sooner,” Matthew McCullough, VP. of product management for the Android Developer ecosystem said in a blog post.

In terms of features, the Android 16 developer preview brings an embedded image picker for apps. With this functionality, apps can request users to get access to selected images from both local storage and the cloud.

Google also released a developer preview of Health Connect with APIs that support health records, which means that applications can read and write medical records in the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) format – a standard used to exchange health records between different systems – with the user. permission.

The company announced the Google Pixel 8 series in September 2023 and the Google Pixel 9 Series in August 2024. The Pixel 9 received the Android 15 treatment in October of this year. It is unclear whether Google will continue these two types of API releases per year for the next release and how they will affect the Pixel release cycle.

Seang Chau, VP and GM of the Android Platform told the Android Faithful podcast in October that the company’s previous approach to release points and the API release program made it difficult for developers and device manufacturers to keep up. With the new release cycle, the company will release a major API change at the beginning of the year, and will only add APIs for the Q4 2025 release so that developers will not face problems.