What to expect from Android 16, Android XR and Gemini

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What to expect from Android 16, Android XR and Gemini

In a couple of weeks,

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’s annual developer conference will kick off on . The event is probably the most important on the company’s calendar, offering a glimpse at everything it has been working on over the past year.

Judging from rumors and information

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has trickled out, I/O 2025 should be one of the more exciting tech keynotes in recent memory. Plus, this year

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has a dedicated Android showcase planned a whole week earlier. If you want to know what to expect from the company later this month, read on.

Android 16

In years past, some of my favorite I/O moments involved watching Dave Burke take to the Shoreline stage to talk about the latest updates for Android. But for the past couple of years, Android hasn’t had much of a spotlight at

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’s annual developer conference. That’s about to change, with the company hosting a dedicated showcase that will air a week before I/O proper. Scheduled for May 13,

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says it has “so many things to share” during the Android Show: I/O Edition.

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and view the “Content and social-media partners” setting to do so.

The presentation will feature Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat, who took over for Burke in 2024. As for what to expect from Samat and company, a preview of Android 16 is an obvious bet.

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has already confirmed the new operating system will arrive sometime before the second half of the year. As such, it may even release a stable build of Android 16 that same day. One feature

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could announce for Android 16 is Live Activities-like . Per

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,

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could also add a more robust photo picker, with support for cloud storage solutions.

Android XR

Remember ? No, how about ? Maybe ? After sending (at least) three XR projects to the , you would think even

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would say enough is enough. Instead, the company is preparing to release Android XR after at the end of last year. This time around, the company says the power of its Gemini AI models will make things different. We know

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is working with Samsung on a headset codenamed Project Moohan. Last fall, Samsung that the device could arrive sometime this year.

Whether

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and Samsung demo Project Moohan at I/O, I imagine the search giant will have more to say about Android XR and the ecosystem partners it has worked to bring to its side for the initiative.

AI, AI and more AI

If

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felt the need to split off Android into its own showcase, we’re likely to get more AI-related announcements at I/O than ever before. The company hasn’t provided many hints about what we can expect on that front, but if I had to guess, features like are likely to get substantive updates. I suspect

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will also have something to say about , the web-surfing agent it demoed at I/O 2024. Either way,

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is an AI company now, and every I/O moving forward will reflect that.

Project Astra

Speaking of AI, was one of the more

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showed off at I/O 2024. The technology made the most of the latest multi-modal capabilities of

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’s Gemini models to offer something we hadn’t seen before from the company. It’s a voice assistant with advanced image recognition features that allows it to converse about the things it sees.

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envisions Project Astra one day providing a truly useful artificial assistant.

However, after seeing an in-person demo of Astra, the Engadget crew felt the tech needed a lot more work. Given the splash Project Astra made last year, there’s a good chance we could get an update on it at I/O 2025.

Wear OS

Last year, Wear OS didn’t get a mention during the company’s main keynote, but

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did preview during the developer sessions that followed. The company only began rolling out to Pixel devices in March. Given that, you might expect

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wouldn’t have much new to share, but the

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told fans to watch the Android Show for updates.

NotebookLM

Since 2023,

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has offered on desktop. The note-taking app uses machine learning for features like automated summaries. Based on App Store and

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Play listings, the company is getting ready to release a mobile version of the service on the first day of I/O 2025.

Everything else

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has a terrible track record when it comes to preventing leaks within its internal ranks, so the likelihood the company could surprise us is low. Still,

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could announce something we don’t expect. As always, your best bet is to visit Engadget on May 20 and 21. We’ll have all the latest from

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then along with our liveblog and analysis.

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#expect #Android #Android #Gemini

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