Google Finishes Android 14, Announces Android 14 QPR1 Beta
- Paul Thurrott
- Sep 14, 2023
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Google is now actively working on the first quarterly platform update for Android 14, which is set for this December. But the announcement post doesn’t explicitly state that the first shipping release of Android 14 is complete, or when it might release. Normally, Google would have done both by now.
“With the release of our final Android 14 Beta 5.3 patch last week, we are now preparing for our next beta program cycle that covers our Android 14 December Quarterly Platform Release (QPR1),” an Android Beta post to Reddit—and not to the official Android Developer Blog for some reason—explains. “Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1 will kick off the week of September 18th. It builds on top of the Android 14 platform release and includes the latest bug fixes and improvements to stability and performance.”
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That quote suggests—but does not literally say—that Android 14 development is complete (or will be before next week). That is, Android 14 Beta 5.3—the third post-Beta 5 minor update–is apparently the end of the line for Android 14 development. So it’s still not clear what’s going on here. As we discussed last week, Google would normally have announced the release of Android 14 to Pixel users, delivered Android 14 to hardware makers, and published the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source code by now.
But given last week’s leak, it does seem that Google now plans to hit those Android 14 release milestones on October 4, about a month later than expected, and the same day that it will announce the Pixel 8 series. The Reddit post only says that it is “coming soon.”
In any event, those who are beta testing Android 14 have a choice to make: they can opt out of the beta and receive the final shipping version of Android 14 whenever that happens, or they can stay in the program and move into the Android 14 QPR1 Beta starting next week. (Google notes that those who opt out to move into the stable update channel will see a message with the term “downgrade” in the description. This can be safely ignored.)