Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- In accordance with a supply, Google plans to maneuver Android TV to a biyearly launch schedule.
- Because of this Google may skip Android TV 15 and as an alternative launch Android 16 for TVs in 2026.
- That’s as a result of Google already launched Android TV 14 earlier this 12 months.
The model of Android that you just’ll discover on TVs could be very totally different from the one you’ll discover on telephones and tablets, which is sensible as they’re vastly totally different type components that serve totally different functions. Nonetheless, Android TV continues to be based mostly on the identical underlying codebase as Android for handheld units, which is up to date at a tempo that’s far too frequent for TV makers to maintain up with. Due to this, Google is outwardly transferring Android TV to a biyearly launch schedule, which implies the following main launch could be based mostly on Android 16.
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Not like smartphones, most individuals improve their TVs each 5 to 10 years, based on components like worth, display dimension, and {hardware} specs, fairly than software program options. As single-purpose media consumption units, TVs don’t rely as closely on software program updates as general-purpose smartphones. This implies there’s much less stress on TV makers to launch main Android model upgrades or equip their units with the newest Android TV platform. Nonetheless, Google nonetheless must replace the Android TV platform in order that it might probably introduce new options and meet regulatory necessities, which regularly results in vital delays in adoption by TV makers.
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
That’s why it got here as no shock to me once I discovered that Google is transferring Android TV to a biyearly, i.e. as soon as each two years, launch schedule. A supply tells me that Google privately introduced this choice at its annual Android TV associate convention, however once I requested Google for remark earlier this 12 months, a spokesperson knowledgeable me the corporate had nothing to share about Android TV’s future launch cadence.
Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be the primary time that Google skipped a model for Android TV. Google scrapped Android TV 13 previous to launch and as an alternative opted to deploy Android TV 14 earlier this 12 months. Android TV 14 relies on Android 14, which was launched in October 2023. In different phrases, the present model of Android TV relies on the final main model of Android, so the Android TV launch schedule is already behind the common Android schedule.
If Android TV is certainly on a biyearly timetable any more, then the following model of Android TV ought to arrive in 2026. It will be unusual if the following main launch in two years relies on this 12 months’s Android 15 as an alternative of subsequent 12 months’s Android 16, however I can’t low cost the likelihood. Google is at present testing some new system APIs for Android TV 16, although, which is why I believe Android 16 for TVs in 2026 is extra seemingly. Google might shock us by releasing Android TV 17 in 2026, however I doubt that’ll occur.
We don’t know what, if any, new options will make their manner into the following main model of Android TV. Not one of the Android 16 features we’ve noticed to this point are related to Android TV. Most Android TV system apps aren’t a part of AOSP, so we are able to’t even verify the supply code to seek out hints about what Google is engaged on. We’ll simply have to attend for Google to make an announcement or launch a developer preview to seek out out what’s coming.
