The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will almost certainly be the first phones to ship with Android 13 on board, but some older phones may actually be updated to Android 13 before these handsets launch, as we will likely see the next models. Pixel in October, while Android 13 now looks almost certain to arrive in September.
The latest evidence for this comes from Google august security bulletin (opens in new tab)that – as noted by Droid life (opens in new tab) – notes that Android 13 “will have a default security patch level of 2022-09-01”.
Given that Google releases security patches every month, this suggests that Android 13 will be released in September, as otherwise it would presumably have a default security patch level from another month.
That said, this is for the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) version, which is not the version that ships to most smartphones. This can sometimes come later, but most years Pixel phones are updated on the same day as the AOSP version; so if you have a Pixel 6 or another Pixel phone that’s still compatible, there’s a very high chance you’ll get Android 13 September.
Exactly what date it will arrive is less clear, but Droid Life speculates that we could see Android 13 on September 6th, as Google usually releases updates on the first Monday of a month, and while September 5th is that Monday- fair is also Labor Day. , so switching to Tuesday would make sense.
Of course, this is just speculation for now, and while Pixel owners might see Android 13, most other handsets will get it weeks or even months later, as is typical with Android updates.
Analysis: Lots of evidence for September
This is compelling evidence that we’ll see Android 13 in September, but a September release always seemed likely.
The biggest previous evidence of this came from Google’s Android 13 roadmap, which had long suggested that September would be when the final version would arrive. Technically September is not named, but given the spacing on the chart it looks like September was the target, as you can see in the image above.
The only real evidence that we wouldn’t see it in September is that Android 12 didn’t arrive until October of last year, but Android 11 and Android 10 arrived in September of their release years. So September seems very likely, putting it head-to-head with iOS 15.