Android N will see an official release as soon as Summer

Yesterday, Google shocked everyone by releasing a developer preview and beta for the next major version of Android — Android N — well ahead of the usual schedule. We aren’t even less than 2 months away from Google IO yet!

The idea for Google was to get feedback early on from developers to shape Android N into the perfect release, but there was also another reason: they want to get the goods into the hands of OEMs much sooner than they have before. Hiroshi Lockheimer said as much in his most recent post on Medium, with the company man revealing OEMs and developers will have a final Android N build at some point in the summer. That’s a far cry from the usual October or November we’ve come to expect.

While Google says the move was purely about making the lives of developers easier, we’re hoping it’ll translate into faster updates from OEMs. Given extra time to work with a new Android release before their next big flagships launch should help them focus efforts on supporting older handsets in a more timely fashion. Some of us are still on Android 5.1 Lollipop, for goodness’ sake! Let’s hope more good news is ahead.