Google used a preview show on 12 May 2026, a week before its I/O developer conference, to lay out what Android has planned for the year. TechCabal, which covered the event, said Google’s pitch was that Android is moving from being an operating system to what it calls an “intelligent system.”
Most of the phone news sits under one name, Gemini Intelligence. It is Google’s label for AI features that let Gemini act across apps instead of just answering questions in a chat window. Long-press the power button over a grocery list and ask Gemini to turn it into a delivery cart. Photograph a travel brochure and ask it to find and book a similar tour. New animations show when Gemini is working in the background. The rollout starts this summer on the Samsung Galaxy S26 series and the Google Pixel 10 series, then spreads to watches, cars and laptops later in 2026.
Small changes people will notice
Rambler, a feature in the Gboard keyboard, is aimed at people who talk the way most of us do. You can ramble, repeat yourself, say “um,” or change your mind halfway through a sentence, and it turns the mess into a short, clean message. It works across several languages in one message, and you review the text before it goes out. Google says the audio is used only for real-time transcription and is not stored.
Create My Widget lets you describe a widget and have Android build it. Typing “show me wind speed and rain for cyclists” is one example from the show.
Pause Point, part of Android 17, adds a 10-second pause when you open an app you have marked as distracting. You can use it to breathe, set a timer, look at a favourite photo or open something calmer, such as an audiobook. Switching the feature off takes a phone restart, which is the point. Google calls it the start of a larger set of wellbeing tools due later in 2026.
Google is also redesigning all 4,000-plus Android emoji with a 3D look called Noto 3D, with Pixel phones getting them first. Screen Reactions records the screen and the front camera at once for reaction videos, and arrives on Pixel phones first this summer.
Security gets the biggest package in years
Google described its Android 17 security work as the most substantial in years. Some of the pieces:
Android will automatically end a call from a number pretending to be your bank, if the bank’s app is installed and you have opted in. It works on Android 11 and above, starting with Revolut, Itau and Nubank. One-time passwords are hidden from most apps for three hours after they arrive. Remote Lock and Theft Detection Lock are on by default on new and freshly reset Android 17 devices, and marking a phone as lost in Find Hub will require biometric authentication. Android 17 also brings post-quantum cryptography and a 2G toggle that is off by default.
On-device AI will watch for apps that quietly forward your text messages, misuse accessibility features or hide their icon and run in the background. That lands in the second half of 2026.
Cars, Chrome and switching from iPhone
Android Auto is getting one of its biggest overhauls, with a Material 3 Expressive redesign, customisable home screen widgets and a layout that adapts to ultrawide, square and circular displays. Google called the new Immersive Navigation in Maps its biggest update to the app in over a decade, with an edge-to-edge 3D view of buildings, bridges and terrain.
Gemini in Chrome for Android starts in late June 2026, with page summaries, form filling and auto-browse for Gemini Pro and Ultra subscribers. Google and Apple also rebuilt the wireless tool for moving from iPhone to Android. It carries passwords, photos, messages, apps, contacts, home screen layout and even the eSIM without a cable, on Samsung Galaxy and Pixel phones first, later in 2026.
