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The Google I/O developer conference is happening very soon, with Google promising to share its "AI breakthroughs and updates in products across the company, from Gemini to Android, Chrome, Cloud and more." This suggests that we should be getting a more traditional presentation this year, and skip the weaksauce Android Show that preceded last year's conference.
Google also revealed that agentic coding will be on the agenda, along with news about the latest Gemini model updates. But with I/O not happening until late next month, we still don't fully know what Google is going to unveil. We have an initial schedule of different talks and presentations, but that doesn't tell us much about the specifics of the show's announcements.
Article continues belowGoogle I/O 2026: Date & location
Google has confirmed that I/O 2026 will commence on May 19, starting with a keynote address at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. BST. The conference will then run through May 20, with Google hosting talks, panels and other presentations over the course of those two days.
As with past I/O keynotes, this will all take place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre at Google's Mountain View headquarters in California. A live-stream of the event will be available on the Google I/O webpage, and this being Google, we'd expect the keynote to stream on YouTube as well.
Google hasn't announced any ancillary events, like last year's Android Show: I/O edition, so the main keynote is likely to be the place for all the biggest reveals. Which is probably for the best, since The Android Show involved very little actual substance.
Google I/O 2026: What to expect for AI
AI has been the major talking point at I/O for the past few years, and with the way the world is going, that isn't likely to change for 2026. AI was such a big deal last year that Google devoted almost the entire keynote address to its advances in artificial intelligence.
Expect Google to go hard, though so far the only confirmed topics of discussion will be agentic coding and updates to the company's many Gemini models.
It's been speculated that Google could reveal Gemini 4 at I/O, and we're likely to hear about updates to the Veo text-to-video model at the same time. Whether that can trump last year's phenomenal update isn't something we can predict right now. It's also about time we heard more about Project Astra, which was first teased a couple of years back as a universal AI assistant.
It's difficult to predict what might be revealed on the AI front. Not only does Google have a lot of diversity in its AI research, but it's also known to have surprise announcements that completely steal the show. Though at the same time, I/O is a developer-focused conference, so there might not be a lot of consumer-centric reveals. It's impossible to say right now, but we can certainly expect some very big things on the AI front.
Google I/O 2026: What to expect for Android
The topic of Android at I/O is something of a mystery, since we're already quite far along into the release cycle. The first beta of Android 17 arrived in February, and the software officially hit the "Platform Stability" stage with the release of beta 3 at the end of March. This means Android 17's feature set is locked in, and future updates are designed to nail down all the smaller issues that need fixing before the final release later this year.
That means Google won't be announcing any new Android 17 features at I/O. Or at least, it won't be announcing features that will be available for all Android devices. Anything we do hear about will likely be exclusive to Pixel phones, like the upcoming Pixel 11.
But just because Android on phones has been locked in, there's nothing to say we won't hear about the other varieties of Android that are floating around. Expect details about Wear OS 7, updates to Android XR and the software formerly known as Android Automotive — a term that's now neglected in favor of "Cars With Google Built-in."
One thing we should expect to hear more about is the upcoming merger of Android and ChromeOS. With Android now offering its own desktop mode, and the merger rumored to be happening later this year, I/O is the perfect time for Google to reveal key details about what its desktop successor is going to look like.
Google I/O 2026: What to expect for devices
I/O is usually not a big event for devices, though we have seen some teases and announcements during keynotes of years gone by. Typically, that was limited to the Pixel A-series or the Pixel Tablet, though there was that time Google gave us a brief glimpse at the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.
Things have changed a lot since then, though. The Pixel 10a is already on sale, and there's no chance of a Pixel Tablet 2 coming anytime soon. All these revelations came before Gemini, and before Google was investing so heavily in AI tools and features. Which is a long way of saying that Google has an awful lot of other stuff to cover, and there isn't enough time to dwell on the next wave of Google phones and devices.
That's what dull launch events hosted by Jimmy Fallon are for.
Google I/O 2026: Everything else
Google is obviously a very big company, and that means there are a lot of different products that could be on the agenda at I/O. There are the major players like Chrome and Nest, plus more niche areas like Waymo's autonomous taxi service and Google Pay.
Whether they'll get any attention in the keynote address is another matter entirely, though. It's more likely that these areas of the company will be part of their own talks, which aren't live-streamed.
It's always interesting heading into Google I/O, especially with how Google has changed its software release strategy over the past few years. But aside from knowing what the general beats are likely to be, we don't know much about anything specific Google may have in store. We'll just have to wait for May 19 to find out.
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