Google confirms I/O 2026 schedule and venue details

Google has locked in plans for its annual developer conference, confirming I/O 2026 will return to its longtime Shoreline Amphitheatre home in Mountain View. A playful community puzzle again served as the reveal, and the teaser points to the customary keynote, hands-on demos, and deep-dive sessions for developers and product teams.

Expectations are already coalescing around Android 17, the next wave of Gemini capabilities, a clearer roadmap for XR, and fresh signals about the much-rumored Aluminium OS. Here’s what to watch when the spotlight lands on Google’s platform strategy.

Android 17 priorities for privacy, performance, and scale

Android 17 should build on the foundation set by recent releases: cleaner background resource management, tighter privacy controls, and more first-class support for large screens and foldables. Google has steadily moved sensitive processing into the on-device Private Compute Core and expanded granular permissions; a continued emphasis on safe, local inference for AI features is likely.

With Android now running on more than 3 billion active devices according to Google’s prior I/O disclosures, even subtle OS-level changes can ripple quickly. Expect improvements to continuity across form factors, richer APIs for satellite-friendly messaging frameworks and emergency services, and further polish to performance on midrange hardware—critical for emerging markets and corporate fleets alike.

Google typically lands a preview and beta cadence ahead of the conference, so we should see concrete SDK updates, compatibility targets for app developers, and guidance around new background restrictions, power policies, and media handling before the keynote stage.

Gemini and agentic AI across Android, Chrome, and Workspace

AI will dominate the show. Expect Gemini’s multimodal chops—text, vision, and audio—to be positioned as the connective tissue across Android, Chrome, and Workspace. After earlier demos of context-aware “agent” behaviors that can see, reason, and act on a user’s behalf, the next step is productization: persistent context across devices, deeper app integrations, and enterprise guardrails.

On phones, the focus should be split between cloud-scale intelligence and on-device models. Gemini Nano already powers features like on-device summaries in Pixel’s Recorder app; look for broader device eligibility, new AICore hooks for third-party developers, and WebGPU-backed inference in Chrome to accelerate lightweight models in the browser.

For businesses, Google has used recent earnings calls to underscore rising AI infrastructure investment. That typically translates at I/O into new Vertex AI tooling, safer data governance options for Workspace admins, and measurable quality gains in code assistants—areas where developer productivity and compliance matter as much as raw model size.

XR and the Android stack for mixed and augmented reality

XR should get meaningful airtime. Google and Samsung previously announced a collaboration on an XR platform with Qualcomm silicon, and developer-facing breadcrumbs—WebXR advances in Chrome, ARCore depth improvements, and Android references to “xr” services—suggest a maturing stack.

Watch for updates on mixed reality passthrough quality, spatial anchors that sync across devices, and input models that span controllers, hands, and voice. The competitive bar is high: Meta’s ecosystem is thriving, and Apple has set expectations around system-wide immersion and productivity. Google’s pitch will likely center on Android compatibility, Play distribution, and a web-first pathway via Chrome.

Aluminium OS and the ChromeOS question for developers

Aluminium OS remains the most intriguing wildcard. Industry reporting and code-watcher chatter around AOSP and Chromium repositories point to an experimental client OS effort that blends Android and Chrome technologies. If Google addresses it on stage, expect a cautious message: long timelines, developer experimentation first, and no abrupt changes for schools and enterprises that rely on ChromeOS today.

Pragmatically, any successor would need years of overlap to meet security, management, and compatibility requirements. Look for signals in session titles—virtualization, containerization, and web-app performance—that hint at how Google might unify app models without breaking the ecosystems that made Chromebooks successful.

Will there be new hardware at Google I/O 2026?

I/O’s hardware history is uneven. In recent years, Google has used the stage to debut or tease devices like Pixel 6a and Pixel Buds Pro, and in one cycle went big with Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel Fold. Other years, software and AI have dominated. If hardware appears this time, candidates include developer-centric XR kits, small Pixel accessories, or refreshed reference devices to showcase on-device Gemini capabilities.

Even without major launches, expect deep hands-on demos. Google traditionally outfits labs where developers can test new Android builds on Pixel hardware, benchmark web features in Chrome, and trial AI APIs with real datasets.

How to watch Google I/O 2026 and what really matters

The main keynote and many technical sessions will stream publicly on YouTube, with free registration unlocking session scheduling, code labs, and badges for developers. As always, the value isn’t just the sizzle—it’s the footnotes: API level targets, deprecations, and migration guidance that shape the next year of app roadmaps.

The big picture for 2026 is convergence. If Google can prove that Gemini scales from data centers to pocketable devices, that Android 17 tightens reliability without handcuffing innovation, and that XR and the next-generation client OS have credible paths for developers, I/O will set the agenda for how billions of users experience AI every day.