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Google I/O is right around the corner, and it's probably the event that Google and Android fans are looking forward to the most. Granted, the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro event that will likely take place in fall is another close contender. But until we get to have these new devices in our hands, Google I/O will almost certainly be filled to the brim with exciting Android 14 news, the launch of the Google Pixel 7a and the Pixel Fold, as well as AI announcements. Now that the official schedule is out, here is everything we know so far.
When is Google I/O 2023?
Google's annual conference for developers usually takes place in May, and that's the case for this year, too. After people from around the world worked together to solve this year's puzzle, we learned this year's I/O conference will be held on May 10th.
The event will be in-person again, like Google I/O 2022, but it'll be with a limited live audience, and it appears Google is encouraging most people to tune into the event online. In contrast to recent years, Google I/O takes place on a single day. In the past, the developer conference usually took up to three days. It looks like the company wants to de-emphasize this singular concentrated event and wants to be there for Android and web developers through other channels, with more Google I/O Connect tie-in events planned around the world for developers in the coming months.
Google I/O 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 event was entirely online. The opening keynote and many of the panels we're expecting will still be accessible online like they have been for the past decade.
How to watch Google I/O 2023
You can now register for the event if you plan to take part on Google's website, but you must use your Google account. If you just want to watch the main keynote, we expect that to be available on YouTube without you having to register. The main keynote begins at 10 a.m. PT and 1 p.m. ET on May 10th. We'll have a link closer to the time so that you can watch along.
What can we expect at Google I/O 2023?
Google released the official Google I/O 2023 schedule on April 27, 2023. Since the developer conference takes place on only one day this year, the planned events are a little more condensed than usually. The program is divided into four different sections that make clear what the theme of this year's I/O is: mobile, web, AI, and cloud.
Google I/O's official schedule reveals what big themes we can expect
As always, I/O will kick off with the general Google keynote, which starts at 10 a.m. PT and 1 p.m. ET. It will be an overview of everything that the company dives into during I/O, plus the biggest and most consumer-facing announcments. Following this, we will see individual and concurrent events surrounding topics in the big four sections mentioned earlier.
Google will likely use its AI announcements to win back some of the excitement around its projects in this department. The company is currently trailing behind the competition in this area, with Bing Chat shaping up to be serious trouble for the company.
We will also learn a lot more about what Google has panned for Android 14 and the next versions of ChromeOS. The company additionally plans some more specialized panels, like some surrounding Google Pay and Google Wallet, Material Design, Google Home, and the web. Being a developer conference, you can look forward to deep dives into programming topics and languages like Dart, Flutter, Firebase, and machine learning.
Other than that, Google is also all but confirmed to have a few hardware reveals planned, whether that's the budget Google Pixel 7a or the Google Pixel Fold.
A few other things are almost inevitable at this point. Google is expected to introduce a slew of Android 14 features and explain to developers how to best take advantage of them.
Google will likely focus on AI at Google I/O 2023
As detailed in a New York Times report, Google activated code red internally following the launch of ChatGPT 4.0 and Bing's chat-based search. The company already reacted with a slapped-together Live from Paris event, showcasing its chat-based search engine, Google Bard. The chatbot launched as a limited beta in the U.S. and U.K. in March 2023, and despite its flaws and outright funny responses, it and its competitors might change the way we use technology in the next few years. It may even come to your Pixel phone as a widget soon, if a recent leak is to be believed.
Bard is not all the company has to offer on the AI front. The New York Times article details a few innovations that the company could reveal at Google I/O this year:
- An image generation studio that creates and edits images.
- A third iteration of the AI Test Kitchen, which the company uses to test upcoming AI features publicly.
- A Shopping Try-on feature for YouTube that uses green screen-like technology to help you try on clothes without leaving your house.
- Maya, a tool that can visualize shoes in 3D.
- A video summarization tool that generates another shorter video from a longer one.
- A wallpaper creation tool for Google Pixel phones.
- An unnamed tool meant for other companies to help them build their own AI applications.
On top of this, we might see new tools for developers. A new Colab option could become part of Android Studio, Google's developer environment, and help developers fix their code. The tool is supposed to be able to write code based on prompts from programmers.
We will see the Google Pixel 7a and the Google Pixel Fold at Google I/O 2023
Google revealed the Google Pixel Tablet at last year's developer conference, but the company still hasn't made it available to the public almost a year later. Google will likely change this at Google I/O 2023 and is almost confirmed to reveal a launch date and pricing at this point thanks to leaks.
We will also see the launch of the Google Pixel 7a at Google I/O 2023, especially after Google itself teased a new phone launch for the day after the event, May 11. Leaks have already revealed that the Pixel 7a is going to be almost identical to the Pixel 7, down to the same Tensor G2 chip, camera setup, and display refresh rate. It's just supposed to be a tad smaller and made with less premium materials. While the Pixel 7a will launch right after the keynote, its predecessor, the Google Pixel 6a, was announced in May 2022, but it only went on sale at the end of July.
Google revealed the Pixel Fold on May 4, 2023, in a tweet and a launch page on its Google Store website, with the company promising that you will hear more about it at Google I/O. So far, this is the only time we've officially seen the phone acknowledged by Google, complete with high-quality press renders that give us an idea how it will look like. However, more details are still officially under wraps, though leaks have already revealed almost everything what we need to know about the foldable. In any case, stay tuned for Google I/O to hear Google confirm these details. Current rumors say that it's supposed to be available for pre-order on the Google Store right after the event, only to go on sale about a month later. The Pixel Fold will be Google's first folding phone, and it might pave the way for a whole wave of new foldables from other manufacturers.
We might even get a first glimpse at the Google Pixel 8 lineup that's slated to arrive at the end of this year, which is something the company has done for last year's Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, too.
On top of this, we may hear the first word on a predecessor to the Google Pixel Watch. Meanwhile, a lack of substantial rumors in the Google Nest home area plus the fact that Google is restructuring its Assistant team to focus more on its Bard chatbot has us believe that we won't see any new Assistant-powered Nest devices.
Google will tell us more about Android 14 at Google I/O 2023
Android 14 is out as a preview for developers and anyone else adventurous enough to use beta software. While the early builds look and feel almost exactly like Android 13, avid tinkerers and experts like Mishaal Rahman are finding tons of other features hiding under the hood. Google will likely make many of these official at Google I/O 2023, along with releasing Android 14 Beta 2 soon after, which is slated to launch in May.
A packed Google I/O 2023 is ahead of us
Google I/O is approaching fast, and we'll likely hear a thing or two more about what to expect before it happens. In the meantime, we can only recommend you catch up on what happened at last year's Google I/O 2022, which was also packed with new announcements and interesting tidbits.