Google announced that it is postponing next week’s scheduled Android 11 Beta event because of protests around the U.S.

“We are excited to tell you more about Android 11, but now is not the time to celebrate,” the official Android Developers account tweeted this morning. “We are postponing the June 3rd event and beta release. We’ll be back with more on Android 11, soon.”

Google had originally intended to roll out Android 11 more aggressively than previous releases so it could get the software in hardware makers’ hands in time for holiday device sales. But those plans have been thwarted repeatedly. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Google canceled the May I/O 2020 event at which it would have rolled out the first Android 11 beta. And in May, it pushed the Android 11 release back to the normal schedule, again citing COVID-19.

The firm then announced plans for a June 3 virtual event at which it would belatedly release the first Android 11 beta and reveal more new features coming in this release. But with the explosion of violent country-wide protests across America in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Google has decided to hold off until things calm down.

Tagged with Android 11