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Stable Android 12 is live in AOSP, but that doesn't mean you'll get it today
- The Android 12 stable launch just hit the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP).
- This is a significant milestone in the release cycle.
- However, it will be at least days or even weeks before we see it arrive on phones.
Last year, Google pushed out the Android 11 stable release at the beginning of September. However, Android 11 wasn’t too drastically different from Android 10 (or Android 9 Pie, for that matter). As such, it was relatively easy for Google to stick to its proposed release schedule.
However, with Android 12, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Since the newest version of Android is very different from other versions, it’s no surprise that Google is pushing the Android 12 stable launch out a lot later than last year.
See also: Every confirmed Android 12 feature you need to know about
Today, the company reached an important milestone: the launch of Android 12 on the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP). This means the true stock version of the operating system is live for anyone to download.
However, the AOSP version of Android 12 and the version you’ll see on Pixel devices are not at all the same. As such, today’s news does not mean you should start looking for software updates on your supported Pixel phone. Google admits the Android 12 stable rollout for Pixels will land “in the next few weeks.”
Still, today’s news is a big deal as it means the core Android 12 experience is finished. OEMs are now free to release their own versions of Android 12 and people who want to mod the operating system for custom ROM releases can do so.
Interestingly, it is possible that other OEMs could push out an Android 12 stable release before Google does it for Pixels. We’ll need to wait and see how that goes, but this could be one of the first times a wide release of Android lands on non-Pixel phones first. Stay tuned.