Android Q Release Date, New Features: Full Version Arrives in September?

Google has yet to announce what the official name of Android Q would be. But a timeline revealed earlier suggests that its first full version would be made available within the third quarter of 2019.

The launch of Android Q this year is not a surprise. But Google remains quite mysterious about its specific release date. In the recently held Google I/O this month, the tech giant revealed more upcoming features and announced that the beta testing will be available to even more users as it is offered right away on at least 21 devices.

The third Android Q beta was seeded this month and is slated to be followed by another update in June. Google previously announced that there will be Beta 5 and Beta 6 with the latter slated as the “final testing” phase. “At Beta 5 and 6 you’ll have release candidate builds—which include the final APIs and near-final system images—for development and testing,” Google said.

The company did not specify which months these updates will be dropped but the final release, a.k.a. the full version is expected to become available for those with compatible devices within Q3. Technically, Q3 covers July, August, and September. But considering that Google has listed Beta 5 and Beta 6 updates before the final release, it can be assumed that the official version of Android Q will be out in September. This estimated schedule also makes sense since considering that Google is anticipated to unveil the Pixel 4 series in October.

Google has yet to announce its plans on releasing its own foldable smartphone. But it has announced that one of the highlight features of Android Q is supporting apps UI and functions on a folding display. Another much-awaited feature is the native dark theme that would make this power-saving display option available on the Android system UI and Android-supported apps.

Android Q is also launching an all-new preview feature, called Bubbles, as part of the Notification system improvements. It basically functions like Facebook’s Messenger pop-up chat heads. So when an app-specific alert comes in, a “bubble” comes up instead of a simple tab in the notification panel.