After weeks of speculation and leaks, Google finally confirmed that Android 16 will arrive in stable version this June. The announcement was made during a press conference prior to The Android Show, and although there is no exact date yet, the clues are quite clear.
June is the chosen month (and we already had our suspicions)
During the event, Allen Huang, Product Management Director for Pixel and the Android system interface, dropped the bomb:
“The Material Expressive updates will be available first on Pixel devices by the end of this year, but they will not be part of the public release in June.”
And there it was said without saying it: Android 16 will be released in June, just as a previous leak suggested pointing to June 3rd as the key date. Although Google has not confirmed it explicitly yet, everything indicates that the official date will be announced at Google I/O, which starts on May 20th.
Material 3 Expressive will have to wait
One of the most striking visual elements that had been rumored with Android 16 is the new Material 3 Expressive design language. However, Huang clarified that this aesthetic overhaul will not be part of the initial release.
Instead, it will arrive later this year, first on Pixel devices. So those who were expecting radical redesigns from day one will have to wait a little longer.
And now what?
With June confirmed, the release of Android 16 is just around the corner for Pixel users. And as usual, other brands will follow their own schedule, but there are already clear signs that they won’t be far behind.
At Samsung, for example, they are already working on their beta version of One UI 8 based on Android 16, and everything indicates that it could be released this same month. So if you have a Galaxy, you could also be close to experiencing new features.