- Google published a “Hey Google” Smart Home Summit on YouTube this week that included a slide that seems to give away the release date of Android 11.
- According to the slide, Android 11 will launch to the public on September 8th.
- Google has yet to officially announce the release date of Android 11, but beta releases have been rolling out to developers for the past several weeks.
There are plenty of reliable sources leaking details about upcoming products online, but every so often, the company responsible for the product does the leaking itself. Just last week we got a sneak peek of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra on Samsung’s website, more than two months before its reveal, and now Google decided to join in on the fun with a leak of its own. According to a slide from the “Hey Google” Smart Home Summit from the Google Developers channel on YouTube, Android 11 is currently set to launch to the public on September 8th.
Clocking in at nearly an hour and a half, the Smart Home Summit unsurprisingly focuses on how smart home devices are taking advantage of Google Assistant, but Android Police spotted a surprise at around the 18-minute mark. At the top of the screen, the slide clearly reads “Checklist for September 8th Android 11 launch,” and the speaker says the following phrase out loud: “We’re launching everywhere on September 8th.”
Considering the fact that we’re still two months out from that date and in the middle of a pandemic, you might not want to mark it on your calendar quite yet, but providing there aren’t any issues or delays, we should see Android 11 in early September. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to get Android 11 on your phone, as new versions of the mobile OS are traditionally only available for Pixel devices on launch day.
After a series of delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, Google finally launched the first Android 11 beta on June 10th with a number of notable changes and improvements, including dedicated conversation notifications, new ways to control connected devices, and privacy enhancements that should make users safer. It’s worth pointing out that the Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 4 series of phones were compatible with Android 11 Beta 1, so those devices are also probably a safe bet for the public release of the software later this year.
Speaking of Pixel phones, Google’s hardware plans have become increasingly incomprehensible in recent months. A variety of sources claimed the Pixel 4a would be revealed in early May, but May came and went without any official news whatsoever. As did June. And now, the Pixel 3a has been discontinued without a new phone to take its place. The latest reports suggest we’ll finally see the Pixel 4a this month, but when will the Pixel 5 be revealed?
