Android 16 is coming early, and we may already know exactly when

Google’s Android development schedule has been gaining momentum, and just last week, the company confirmed plans to release Android 16 ahead of nearly everyone’s expectations, due for sometime in Q2 of 2025. While that would put it quite a bit earlier from the Q3 releases we’re used to, it also left room for a fair amount of ambiguity — were we talking something as soon as April, or would be settling into summer by the time in landed in June? Google still isn’t saying, but a new report attempts to put a date on its plans.

Android 16 could arrive on June 3, according to sources known to Android Headlines. If you’ll remember, this year we saw Google release Android 15 to the AOSP on September 3, followed by availability of updates for Pixel phones over a month later, on October 15.

Unlike that two-phase availability, this report claims that Google will be ready to hit the ground running with Android 16 on June 3, simultaneously delivering the source to AOSP and releasing updates for Pixel devices. Getting the code on AOSP is the main goal here, putting OEMs in a position where they can commit to the software that will ship with phones destined to arrive later in the year. But immediate access on Pixel phones is just the cherry on top, even if it will mean a seriously abbreviated lifespan for Android 15 on this hardware — not even making it to eight months before this next major update could debut.

Right now, though, it’s probably worth thinking about this date more as a target than a guarantee, especially as we’ve yet to see any corroboration from other sources. Its proximity towards the tail end of Google’s Q2 window makes strong enough sense, but when it comes to the availability of Pixel updates in particular, we wouldn’t be surprised if these plans might change shape a little in the months and months ahead.