Summary

  • Android 16 is expected to arrive much sooner than initially expected, thanks to an expedited release schedule.
  • A new leak is giving us the potential date of Android 16 Beta 3’s arrival, while also hinting at likely dates for the launch of the first two Android 16 betas.
  • Google is expected to roll out the stable version of Android 16 by the end of the second quarter, much sooner than past Android releases.



Believe it or not, Android 16 is just around the corner. Google has charted an expedited release schedule for the upcoming software, with the second developer preview going up in December. The first beta is supposed to land sometime this month, while the second and third are expected to arrive in February and March, respectively. This much was common knowledge until now, with Google announcing the schedule fairly early in the day. Now, a fresh revelation is giving us some early info about when some of the Android 16 betas may land.

The Android 16 logo displayed over a photo of a spaceship launching.

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The information comes courtesy of a comment on the Android Gerrit, wherein a person most likely to be a Google employee mentions some tentative dates for the Android 16 betas. In this relatively lengthy comment, March 12 is mentioned as Beta 3’s release date. The comment was discovered by Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug.



The first Android 16 beta is due this month

Googler Comment on Android Gerrit About A16 Beta

Via: Assemble Debug/Android Authority

While the Googler mentions January 22 and February 19 in the comment as well, there’s not enough evidence to suggest the first and second betas will be ready on those dates. Nevertheless, it’s not far-fetched to presume that the first and second betas could land sometime around these dates, if not on those dates specifically.

More importantly, this new info tells us that Android 16 could officially reach platform stability by the middle of March, thus paving the way for Beta 4 in April/May and then the stable release sometime before the end of the second quarter. Even if that may be a few months away, it’s still sooner than the mid-October rollout of Android 15 last year.



Given that Android 16 developer previews have been around for a while now, we’ve learned a fair bit about what’s to come with the software. Additional work on the volume panel and sliders has been spotted in Android 16, while Google may also let users pause AI writing assistance in the upcoming release.

While neither of these features is guaranteed to make the final cut, the first couple of Android 16 betas should give us a decent idea about the features that will (or won’t) make it to Android 16 stable by Q2 2025.

Image of the Android 16 logo on a Pixel 9 Pro's home screen with the phone sitting atop a wooden table.

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Long-pressing the back button in Android 16 could trigger this new animation

Three-button navigation could get a nice upgrade

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