Source: The Android 15 update for Pixel phones won’t roll out next month

This year has been a bit unusual for Google’s hardware division. Not only did it significantly move its launch timeline forward but it also released four, instead of two, new phones in its latest Pixel lineup. Because the Google Pixel 9 series released a full two months earlier than usual, the Pixel team couldn’t ship them with this year’s Android 15 release as it wasn’t ready yet. In fact, the Android 15 update for Pixel phones still isn’t ready, and I’m told that Google might not even roll it out next month either.

Historically, Google has rolled out major Android version updates for its Pixel devices at (or around) the same time it has released the source code. This is despite the fact that, within Google, the Pixel hardware team has historically been separate from the team responsible for AOSP, a separation that no longer exists as of this year. Here’s a table that compares when Google released the source code for a new Android version to when it rolled out the corresponding update to its Pixel devices.

With the exception of Android 12, Google has rolled out OTA updates for its Pixel devices on the same day as the source code for every major Android release. This was also the case for every older Android release, though I didn’t bother to include them in this chart. However, since Android 12’s release, there’s no longer a guarantee that the Pixel OTA update and Android source code drop will happen on the same day, and there’s a good reason for that.

Although Pixel devices have always been intended for consumers, they’re also reference devices for Android platform developers, so they’re frequently used to test and develop new Android releases. Testing and deploying updates is a challenging process, though, which is why the Pixel team no longer guarantees that they’ll always release an update on the same day that the source code has been uploaded, even for monthly security updates. The Pixel team now regularly withholds updates until they’re ready to roll them out, which gives them more time to finalize marketing for Pixel Feature Drops, test changes, or iron out any last-minute bugs.

The Android 15 update is seemingly being withheld to improve its stability. According to a source, Google currently plans to roll out the Android 15 update for Pixel phones sometime in October, possibly even in the middle of the month. That’s significant because Google plans to release the source code for Android 15 next week, meaning there might be a gap of 30 days or even more between the source code drop and the Pixel OTA update.

When I reached out to Google for comment, a spokesperson told me that it had nothing to share. It’s possible that the release date might change, but I’m fairly confident that the information I was given is, at the very least, not outdated. If Google indeed plans to roll out the Android 15 update in October, then I hope it’s incredibly stable since the last beta update has already been out for nearly two weeks at this point.

The Android 15 QPR1 beta program has already kicked off as of last week, giving us an early look at what to expect in the December 2024 Pixel Drop.