Google has already confirmed that Android 16 will be launching earlier than usual, which was reported in September as well. This matches up with the Pixel 9 launching two months earlier this year and the Pixel 9a set to launch two months earlier next year as well. However, thanks to our sources, we can now tell the exact date that Android 16 will be pushed to AOSP as well as the OTA for Pixel devices.
That date is June 3. Unlike with Android 15, Android 16 will head to AOSP on the same day that the OTA will start to roll out to Pixel devices. That’s a full 2-3 months earlier than usual and even earlier for the Pixel OTA. Since Android 15 did not start rolling out until October 15 this year.
As Google announced last week, the main reason for this earlier launch is so that they can get it on new partner devices for the fall. Launching in June means that the devices coming in July, August, and September should (in theory, at least) launch with Android 16. It also allows Google to push out a second, smaller update later in the year. The reason for going back to point updates is actually for AI. Google wants to be able to push out changes faster so developers and OEMs can take advantage of new AI features quickly.
Previous versions of Android launched between August and October
A trend we’ve been seeing from Google recently is moving up their release dates, which makes sense, especially for their phones. Launching the Pixel in October was always a bad idea since it was so close to the holiday sales, and it was right before the new crop of processors came out. Now, with its launch in August, it beats the iPhone, and that could be why the Pixel 9 is getting such a big bump in sales this year – besides the fact that it is such a good phone.
Moving the Android 16 launch to June means that the Pixel 10 won’t launch at the same time as Android 16, and that could lead to fewer bugs at launch. Typically, the new version of Android launches at the same time as its flagship Pixel phones, and thus the phones are buggy. That wasn’t the case this year for Android 15 and Pixel 9, which was a huge change and made the phones much more stable. It’ll be interesting to see how next year plays out.