If you have always been a fan of Android smartphones over Apple’s iPhone then you’ll be excited to hear Google is gearing up to announce everything about Android 15, the next version of the world’s most popular mobile software. We already know a little about what’s in store for the next update to hit your Google, Samsung or OnePlus phone but today Google is set to reveal all at its annual I/O conference.
Held in California, Google I/O (which stands for ‘input/output’, a computing term) is mostly an event for mobile developers to attend. They can find out everything they need to know about how Android is evolving and hope they should tweak their existing apps to run without a hitch on new phones.
But Google I/O is always worth tuning into simply if you’re an Android lover, because Google usually spends the first couple of hours of the event presenting everything new to Android, and it’s no different this year. Led by CEO Sundar Pichai, Google will live stream its keynote presentation at 6pm UK time on Tuesday 14 May 2024.
“Discover how we’re furthering our mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” Google said, rather cryptically, on its website. We’re certain there will be mention of the latest Android features, though Android 15 is not set to be a major overhaul of the look and feel of the operating system. In fact, it’s difficult to know how Android will look because only Google Pixel phones use the style of Android that Google designs – one of the great things about the platform is companies such as Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola and Xiaomi are free to change what they want about the aesthetics on their own devices.
But, those companies will usually integrate all the major updates Google is bringing under the hood. So far, it looks as though Google is bringing support for emergency satellite communications in a move Apple made with the iPhone 14, plus more controls for camera and vibration settings, a Private Space feature that lets you lock certain apps and files away from prying eyes, sensitive notification settings and support for Auracast where you can broadcast the audio from your device to others’ headphones.
We’re also keen to see how rumoured app archiving works – where if you run out of storage space on your phone, it can supposedly intelligently archive apps for you but bring them back to use, logged in with your data, at a moment’s notice.
The big G is also sure to speak about how it is integrating artificial intelligence into Android – AI has been the big buzzword for phone companies in 2024. In a post on X, the company even says it’ll talk about its “latest advancements in AI”. The presentation from the company will come just one day after AI rival OpenAI debuted GPT-4o, a more advanced AI model that runs its popular ChatGPT product.
Google has already seemingly started to rename Google Assistant to Gemini – how much will we see Gemini take over on Android phones as a digital AI assistant? All could be clearer come this evening.
We’ll hopefully also hear more about WearOS 5, the next version of Google’s software for smartwatches, though it’s doubtful that the rumoured Pixel 9 phones or second-generation Pixel Fold 2 will be shown off.
When Android 15 is eventually ready to go, it’s very likely that Google will officially push out Android 15 to its Pixel phones first, probably with the expected Pixel 9 series later in the year. The company usually teases the new version at I/O in May but doesn’t release it until its new phones around October.
The company officially jumped the gun and announced the Pixel 8a on 7 May. It goes on sale the same day as I/O, 14 May.
