Google has officially confirmed that Android 17 is entering an accelerated development cycle, with the goal of a stable version of the operating system being released as early as June 2026. This change comes after the introduction of the permanent Android Canary channel, which replaced the classic Developer Preview versions last year.
Unlike previous generations, where Developer Preview releases took months, Canary allows new features and APIs to become available immediately after internal testing. In the previous cycle, there were two Developer Preview releases during November and December, while the first Beta version arrived in January. With Android 17, that process is further shortened.
Android 17: Shorter Beta cycle and earlier stable version
Google has confirmed that as early as March, Android 17 will reach the Platform Stability stage, which means that the SDK and NDK APIs will be finished, as well as system behavior that affects applications. This is a key point for developers, because after it there should be no major changes that would require application customization.
Unlike previous years, Google does not specify the exact number of Beta releases this time. Instead of a precise roadmap, the official documentation only says “later Beta releases”. However, based on past practice and alignment with the Quarterly Platform Release cycle, Android 17 is expected to receive Beta versions during April and May, which would mean a total of three major Beta releases before the stable version.
Google has also confirmed that the stable release will be followed by a 26Q3 update, likely to be called 17 QPR1, then a larger 26Q4 update labeled 17 QPR2, while 27Q1 (17 QPR3) will round out the Android 17 development cycle.
Interestingly, Google is increasingly using year and quarter tags instead of the classic QPR tags, which provides a clearer context for the timeframe of each update. This approach indicates a more mature and predictable development model, with the clear intention that Android 17 will be ready earlier than previous versions, reports 9to5Google.