If you own an Android device, set your alarm for May 19, 2026 at 6pm GMT. This is the start of Google I/O, the US company’s annual event where it unveils all of the new features coming to your devices and Google-branded services. Expect to hear about early plans for popular tools like Google Search, Android 17, Google Gemini, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Home, YouTube, and dozens more.
Google has previously used its packed I/O keynote to announce new hardware, including its futuristic Google Glass smart eyewear, premium Google Pixelbook laptop, and Google Home smart speakers. For its latest showcase, Google I/O will take place from May 19 – 20, 2026 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.
The good news? You don't need to venture all the way there to hear about all the highly anticipated announcements.
You can sign up to watch online for free directly on Google I/O's website. Kick off begins at the following times:
- 6pm GMT
- 7pm CET
- 1pm EST
- 10am PT
Google released its event dates with a fun twist. Rather than simply posting them, the company tucked them behind a series of playful minigames on its site.
You can still have a go at these yourself. There's a mini-golf challenge where a Gemini-powered virtual caddy gives you tips, plus logic puzzles that generate endless new boards using the AI.
If you prefer a more interactive game, you can try Super Sonicbot, where you control an Android character's height using your microphone – the louder you are, the higher it flies.
The US tech firm has kept several of its upcoming announcements under wraps.
However, this year's conference arrives hot on the heels of The Android Show — a dedicated showcase focused entirely on Android's ecosystem, highlighting the latest Android OS updates like Android 17, new features for phones, tablets, and wearables, AI integrations on Android devices, and tools for app developers.
Google introduced the format as a way to separate Android-specific announcements from the company’s larger I/O keynote presentations.
However, a few of Google's new products and services were lumped into this year's unveilings, so we've already gotten some insight into the updates we can expect to arrive soon.
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For instance, The Android Show recently unveiled Gemini Intelligence, promising to be a hands-on AI assistant that doesn’t just answer questions, but actually gets things done for you. This is separate from the regular Gemini AI, which is the underlying AI model. This is available as a standalone app and powers Google Home, Gmail, and AI search mode.
Gemini Intelligence will be released in the coming months, with Samsung Galaxy S26 and Google Pixel 10 set to be the first devices to benefit from the new features | GOOGLE PRESS OFFICEGemini Intelligence is a new layer built on top of this underlying model — designed to turn your Android device into a more proactive assistant that can understand your queries and then take action across a variety of apps to complete real-world tasks on your behalf. This is something that several AI companies are striving for. OpenAI announced its ChatGPT Agent to book tables at restaurants, create PowerPoint presentations, and more last summer.
It marks a clear separation from Apple Intelligence, which focuses more on on-device privacy, writing tools, and subtle AI assistance across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Where Apple’s approach feels more like a smart co-pilot offering suggestions, Gemini is aiming to act more like an active operator, similar to the recently unveiled chatty Alexa+.
Gemini Intelligence was designed for the new Googlebook laptop, launching later this year
|GOOGLE PRESS OFFICE
There's also an all-new Googlebook laptop that will be running Gemini Intelligence. Its meant to supersede its Chromebook lineup, a popular category of notebooks used primarily in education and powered by a lightweight desktop operating system based on Google's ubiquitous web browser of the same name.
It's also designed to put AI at the forefront of everything it does. Writing in a blog post about the new arrival, Senior Director of Laptops and Tablets at Google, Alex Kuscher, explained: "As we are moving from an operating system to an intelligence system, we see an opportunity to rethink laptops again."
Like Google's other hotly anticipated updates, you can expect the Googlebook to hit shelves later this year.