Google I/O is shaping up to be quite different this year. Rather than covering all the biggest announcements in a single keynote address, Google has taken the liberty of cutting out the Android bit and announcing everything early.
The Android Show: I/O Edition will take place a week earlier on May 13, and will let us "Be the first to learn about innovative new experiences." Based on many years of watching Google I/O proper, my guess is that this will be the place Google unveils all the changes coming to Android in the next 12 months, most notably Android 16.
Android 16
Considering this is the Android Show, it's all but a certainty that Android 16 will be at the top of the agenda. Though this year is unique, since the Android 16 beta arrived months earlier than normal, giving us a much more substantial taste of what Google has in store for us.
But beta software only tells us part of the story. There's still plenty of opportunity for Google to reveal new changes and upgrades coming to Android 16, both at launch and in subsequent updates, including future Pixel feature drops. The Android Show is the perfect opportunity to do that.
Considering the recent leaks showing off various design changes in the software, I expect Google to address exactly what it's store for us all when Android 16 launches later this year. Hopefully, they can explain why the leaks are such a horrendous shade of purple too.
Most importantly, we might actually find out when Android 16 is due to be released. Normally, that's left ambiguous during I/O, but since we already know Android 16 will be arriving earlier than normal, we should be close enough for Google to give us an actual release date. Or failing that, a smaller release window than we have already.
Android XR
The Android Show also gives Google the perfect opportunity to talk about Android XR in much greater detail than we've had thus far. Considering Samsung is expected to release its Project Moohan headset, its mixed-reality take on Android, later this year, this is Google's last chance to do it properly.
In fact, considering how in-depth I'd expect an Android XR reveal to be, this could be a big part of why Android announcements were spun off from the main I/O keynote. To the point where Moohan may be the only significant piece of hardware present during the show.
The most important thing for Google to do is show off what Android XR looks like, and how the software is going to work. We have already heard some details about this, thanks to early hands-on previews of Project Moohan, but it's about time we heard that directly from the source.
At the very least, Google needs to show how we control Android XR, what kind of input is required — be it motion tracking or external hardware like a controller — and how apps are going to work. An operating system lives and dies by the amount of support it gets from app developers, meaning Google's going to have to reassure everyone that Android XR won't be a barren Windows Phone-like landscape.
Gemini
We expect the brunt of Google's new AI announcements to be held back for the I/O keynote on May 20. But you can't really talk about Android without also talking about Gemini , seeing as how intertwined the chatbot has become with Google's operating system in the last few years.
So we should expect to hear announcements of new Gemini features that are coming to Android phones. At this point, we don't know what they might be, but I'd put money on some kind of upgrades to Gemini live at the very least. After all, Google has to compete with Apple's Visual Intelligence, and Live is the best way to do this right now.
We've seen that Google has also been testing Gemini on Android Auto over the past few months, and if that's going to happen anytime soon, then The Android Show is the place it's likely to be announced.
Presumably adding Gemini to Android Auto will also mean it comes to Android Automotive — the Google OS found on some recent cars. Though it's unclear which one will come first, since Google has been rather inconsistent at that in recent years.
Hopefully, this also means we'll see Gemini on Wear OS watches, rather than being stuck using Google Assistant. I'm a little tired of both devices responding when I say "Hey, Google", and if adding Gemini means they can work together, then all the better for the users.
What not to expect
The big thing we shouldn't expect from the Android show, with the exception of Samsung's Project Moohan, is hardware. I/O has always been more focused on software, and while hardware does occasionally make an appearance, we're not expecting that to happen this year.
The Pixel 9a is already on sale, having launched back in March, and there have been no rumors about a possible follow-up to the Pixel Tablet. While the prospect of a Pixel 10 or Pixel Watch 4 tease is not completely off the table, I wouldn't bet on that happening. Especially when you remember that Google is expected to launch those devices in August again, rather than October.
AI is also one of the things Google is likely to gloss over, and not spend a whole lot of time talking about. The company has to leave something for the main I/O keynote on May 20, and spending too much time talking about AI during The Android Show would defeat the purpose of splitting it off into its own thing.
That said, with AI becoming an important part of the Android software, it's unlikely Google will avoid AI talk altogether. I expect that it will be limited to Gemini, and how AI is going to impact Google hardware and apps. All so the more technical AI features can be discussed in greater detail the following week.
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