Google may show developers some love with the first Android 15 preview on February 15
While Google has stopped regularly updating its official Android distribution numbers a while ago, it's safe to assume the latest OS version is far from widely used in today's mobile industry. That's obviously because smartphone manufacturers (with the worthy exceptions of Samsung and Google itself) remain as slow as ever in delivering the newest and smoothest collections of software goodies to older devices.
But that's not stopping Big G from working tirelessly behind the scenes on Android 14's sequel. This will of course be known to the masses simply as Android 15 while reportedly carrying a delicious "Vanilla Ice Cream" internal codename and looking set for an official announcement this week.
Specifically, it appears that the first developer preview will be released tomorrow, February 15, which feels rather fitting although it's not etched in stone just yet. This date was mentioned by a Google dev in a public comment posted to the Android Open Source Project, and even though it could still prove inaccurate, it sure seems to fit with the company's normal software update schedule.
Android 14, for instance, was announced and released to developers in its initial and decidedly unstable form on February 8, 2023, so if anything, Google is already late in getting the public Android 15 show on the road. A year prior to that, Android 13 was made available in the Developer Preview channel on February 10 before reaching the beta phase on April 26.
With the first Android 14 beta build however released on April 12, 2023, it remains to be seen exactly when Google will deem Android 15 ready for adventurous testers who are not quite qualified or particularly willing to play around with developer software.
As far as "normal" users are concerned, it's clearly far too early to make any firm predictions, but if recent history is any indication, you can probably expect Pixel devices to be treated to their first stable Android 15 update anytime between August and October.
In the meantime, we will of course find out pretty much everything there is to know about the new OS version, possibly starting with the few features and optimizations already rumored in the last few months.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: