Google has wasted no time in building momentum following the recent release of Android 15, unveiling the first Developer Preview for Android 16. This new preview, designed for Pixel smartphones, was officially announced on the Android Developer Blog.

However, Google announced at the end of last month that it’s accelerating Android’s release schedule. The company confirmed it plans to release Android 16 sometime in Q2 of 2025. One leak points towards a June 3, 2025, release date for Android 16, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Google is releasing the first developer preview of Android 16 to speed up feature rollouts in devices. This is a major change in the Android rollout

If you're an Android fan, you might be used to the typical rollout for Android developer previews: Google usually drops the first preview in February, so the fact that the company seeded Android 16's first developer preview in November—three months ahead of schedule—is quite surprising.

The highly anticipated Android 16 Developer Preview 1 has finally arrived, signaling a significant shift in the landscape of app development and testing.

Google has dropped the first Android 16 developer preview, so read about all the new features in this new flavor of Android.

It looks like the Pixel 6’s official Android support may not be quite over. Despite the fact the phone was scheduled to get 3 years of Android updates, which expired last month, the phone has been included in the newly-released Android 16 developer preview — suggesting that it may be getting a surprise Android 16 update sometime next year.

Google tests its major Android releases in stages. We're currently in the developer preview phase of Android 16's testing, which means that builds available today are meant for developers to get an early start ensuring compatibility with Android 16.