A lot of Android phones have so far received their respective update to Android 15, but if you have something Android-powered that’s not a smartphone or a tablet, your mileage may vary. TVs are still on Android 14, but it’s increasingly looking like Google might just skip the Android 15 update for Google TV and Android TV-powered devices.

Google is apparently hard at work preparing Android 16 for TV, but in the meantime, it might not launch the latest version of Android on TVs and streaming devices. The schedule for the upcoming Google I/O developer conference was recently revealed, which explicitly mentions preparations for “Android 16 for TV” as part of the Android TV session. This, coupled with the complete absence of any announcements regarding an Android TV 15 over the past few months, suggests Google might bypass version 15 entirely for its television platform, jumping straight from the current Android TV 14 to the new Android TV 16.

For years, the release cadence for Android TV followed, for the most part, mobile Android’s release cadence, delivering a new version of Android TV annually alongside new phone and tablet versions, or at least shortly after. This pattern first saw disruption with Android TV 13—that version never reached consumer devices, existing only as a developer preview before its codebase was ultimately merged into Android TV 14. This time, we didn’t even have any public developer preview for Android TV 15, and Google hasn’t even publicly acknowledged its existence at all. With Google already looking ahead to announce what’s next as part of Android TV 16, it’s safe to say that Google is not doing Android 15 for your TV, Chromecast, or Streamer at all.

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If this is true, it’s not exactly surprising. A few months ago, Android Authority reported that Google would not be moving forward with Android TV 15 after privately announcing that decision with partners. With Google releasing Android 16 earlier than usual this year, killing Android TV 15 could’ve been one of the painful moves Google had to make to reach that goal. Or Google might have simply decided that Android TV was better off on a bi-yearly schedule rather than on a yearly one. If the latter is right, we’ll see the next major update in 2027, with Android TV 18. One thing we need to keep in mind is that while yearly updates are cool, people don’t tend to upgrade their TV that much often—a TV can stay in a living room for as much as 10 years. Hell, I upgraded the TV in my living room after 12 years, and only because the older one was about to die.

We’ll have to wait and see what Android TV 16 has in store, but in the meantime, you’ll have to keep waiting a bit longer.

Source: Android Authority via AFTVnews