Google hosting ‘Android Show’ with ‘exciting updates’ before I/O 2025

Google announced today that it will be making some Android announcements a week before I/O 2025.

This will take the form of a YouTube livestream as part of “The Android Show” series on Tuesday, May 13 at 10 a.m. PT. It will be hosted by Sameer Samat (President, Android Ecosystem) who has delivered the OS announcements at the developer conference in recent years. In terms of what to expect:

“What’s new with Android has always been a huge part of Google I/O, and we know people are excited! That’s why we’re kicking off this year’s I/O season with a special deep-dive, The Android Show: I/O edition. We’ll be sharing news now to get you ready for I/O, where we’ll have even more special announcements and surprises in store.”

Additionally, the YouTube description teases how “Exciting updates are coming to Android.”

Google will — for the first-time — be making Android announcements ahead of I/O. A week later there will be “even more” Android developments at the developer conference. 

This does suggest that there are more Android announcements than usual this year, with recent conferences being lighter than the early days. 

Historically, Google has used I/O to announce the tentpole features for that year’s Android release, with the first beta lining up with the developer event. However, the release schedule has slowly been moving up, with the beta in recent years already out before May. In 2024, Google still used I/O to announce Android 15 features like Private Space and factory reset protection upgrades, as well as Wear OS 5.

This year, Google has already released the final major Android 16 Beta a month before the conference. It remains to be seen whether The Android Show or I/O will announce tentpoles that make their way into the June launch.

It will be very interesting to see how Google will divvy up the news. What’s worthy for the global stage that is I/O, and what will make its way into the livestream? From the early session list, we know that there will be Material 3 Expressive, Android XR, Android 16 for TV, and Gemini in Android Auto/Automotive. All those are traditional conference announcements that are more oriented towards developers. The Android Show could be home to more consumer-facing features that are closer to launch.

You can get a reminder for the event at android.com/io25.

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