Google I/O will kick off with a keynote address on Tuesday 19 May.
The company is expected to make several major announcements, including its ambitions for the future of Gemini and Android XR.
Google I/O is the Mountain View company's annual developer event which has wide-ranging impact on the digital world we inhabit. Google not only powers billions of devices with Android, but Search, Gemini and a whole lot more fall under the Google I/O umbrella.
The past few years have all had a distinct theme – artificial intelligence. While Google used to talk about DeepMind and LLMs in a sort of abstract sense five years ago, we're now living that reality.
We've already been exposed to some of Google's plans for the near future. The recent Android Show revealed changes coming to Android 17 with Gemini Intelligence, Googlebook was introduced, the evolution of Android in the car was previewed, and a whole lot more.
We learnt a lot, but that leaves us with questions that the Google I/O keynote is expected to answer.
Here then are three big announcements I'm expecting at Google I/O next week:
Gemini, Gemini, Gemini
Of all the AI systems we're faced with, Gemini seems to be the most progressive. It's not just about image and video creation, or witty chatbot retorts, it's about device-wide integration.
Google has an advantage that many others don't, in that it can place Gemini right in the centre of its computing platforms.
Gemini will take centre stage at Google I/O as we move towards an increasingly agentic experience. That means it can carry out tasks on your behalf, with deeper integration expected into a full range of third-party services. I'm expecting a big step beyond the simple stuff it can already do, like add things to your calendar.
We've already seen Omni leak, which appears to be an evolution of Veo video creation, and I'd expect Omni to get a full introduction. I'm also expecting Gemini to become properly multi-modal from a single prompt.
We might also get a mention of plans for Gemini powering Apple Intelligence.
Aluminium OS
Google has long had plans to unify Android and Chrome OS. Small steps have been taken in that direction over the past years, but there's been an expectation that something new was coming.
Indeed, Sameer Samat, Google's president of Android, and Rick Osterloh, SVP of devices and services have both talked about bringing the two platforms together on numerous occasions over the past year, and the first fruits of that appear to be in Googlebook.
But Googlebook was announced with an unnamed operating system, which is where I'm expecting Google I/O to give us more. It's been dubbed Aluminium OS for some time, but that's not (yet) an official name.
The evolution of Aluminium OS (or whatever it's called) means more seamless interaction between mobile and laptop, a shared intelligence through Gemini and should mean that developments for Android can benefit PCs too. Chrome will continue, but Googlebook will likely accelerate the experience.
Android XR
Google's wearable platform is younger than others and while we've seen Galaxy XR make the debut of Android XR, we're yet to see Google's efforts in smart glasses in a commercial device.
There have been rumours that Samsung will announce Galaxy Glasses in July and we know that Samsung is a key development partner on Android XR, so I'm expecting to hear a lot more and hopefully see some real products.
While Samsung might be allowed to keep its product for its own launch, there's a chance that Gentle Monster and Warby Parker's involvements will have more prominence, while Xreal's Project Aura could also get some time on stage.
Android XR glasses are coming in 2026 and Google I/O is the perfect time to fill in the gaps and show us what we're going to be getting.
How to watch Google I/O
Google will be streaming all the action from Google I/O, with the action starting on 19 May at 10am PT, which is 6pm BST.
There will also be extensive coverage here on T3.com, with a live blog of the action, where we'll get under the skin of the announcements and what it all actually means.
