Google had hoped to deliver Android 11 to device makers months earlier than usual, but that may not happen now.

“When we started planning Android 11, we didn’t expect the kinds of changes that would find their way to all of us, across nearly every region in the world,” Google vice president Dave Burke explains. “These have challenged us to stay flexible and find new ways to work together, especially with our developer community. To help us meet those challenges we’re announcing an update to our release timeline.”

Originally, Google planned to release three Developer Preview releases of Android 11, followed by three Beta releases in May and June and then a final release in July; it delivered the third Developer Preview about two weeks ago.

Now, however, Google has announced an unexpected fourth Developer Preview, which will be followed by three Beta releases in June, July, and August, respectively. It will then deliver release candidate builds in August, followed by the final release most likely in September. This means that Android 11 will now be delivered at the same time, or perhaps even later than is usually the case.

“By bringing you the final APIs on the original timeline while shifting the other dates, we’re giving you an extra month to compile and test with the final APIs, while also ensuring that you have the same amount of time between Platform Stability and the final release,” Burke says.

As we reported earlier, Google will host an online event called Android 11: The Beta Launch Show to share what’s new in this release with developers. This event replaces the disclosures that normally occur at Google I/O.

Today’s Developer Preview 4 is described as an incremental update for stability and performance. There are no new features.

Tagged with Android 11