Google is likely to release Android 16 earlier than usual next year, according to details spotted in the company’s documentation for its smartphone operating system. The source code for Android 15 was released last month, but Google’s Pixel smartphones have yet to receive an update to the company’s latest operating system. This alleged switch could allow Google to ship its next generation of smartphones with Android 16 out of the box, which was not possible with the Pixel 9 series. Meanwhile, Google is reportedly dropping the alphabet-based internal codename for Android 15 and Android 16.
The company’s Android 15 Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) references the “Android 25Q2” release (via Android Authority ), which appears to be the next version of Google’s smartphone OS. The publication also spotted a comment from a Google employee in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) project that refers to the changes that will be introduced from “25Q2/Android W”.
Google CDD for Android refers to “25 Q2 release”
Photo: Screenshot/ Google
Other references to upcoming API changes related to the anticipated 25Q2 release also support the theory that this will be a major release rather than a quarterly Android 15 platform release (QPR). This is because Google freezes the addition of new APIs before a new version of the OS is released, and new APIs cannot be added until the next version update.
These hints suggest that Android 16 will arrive much earlier than previous versions, which in recent years have typically been released in September or October. It is currently unclear whether Google Pixel smartphones will also receive an early update to Android 16 next year.
One of the reasons for this change could be that Google can ensure that the latest version of Android is ready to ship to its smartphones – the Pixel 9 series runs on Android 14, which was released a year ago.
Meanwhile, a separate report claims that Google has dropped the alphabet-based codenames for its upcoming Android versions, starting with Android 15, which was previously called Vanilla Ice Cream. While Android 16 was expected to be codenamed with a dessert starting with the letter W, it looks like the series has already been dropped.
While Android 15 was previously called Vanilla Ice Cream, Google’s latest build numbers suggest that the letter V has been replaced by an A. According to the post, Android 16 will be codenamed “baklava”. Although this term has already been spotted in the code of the upcoming version, some Google engineers are still calling the release Android W.