Pixel owners face long Android 15 wait – report

Google may have launched its new smartphone hardware two months earlier than usual this year, but Android 15 is likely to remain in the same October window as last year.

That’s according to a source speaking to Android Authority who says Android 15 isn’t ready yet and Pixel owners shouldn’t expect to receive it in September.

Last year Google released the Pixel version of Android 14 on October 4 – the same day it announced the Pixel 8 range of smartphones. In 2022 Google released the Android 13 Pixel update on August 15, wheras the Pixel 7 hardware didn’t launch until October 6.

This year the opposite looks like it’ll be true. New hardware in August and new software in October, according to the report. “In fact,” the reporter wrote “we heard that the update may not even roll out until the middle of October.”

The summer hardware launch broke with precedent for Google. It launched the new Pixel 9 smartphones with last year’s Android 14 operating system, while usually Google takes pride in releasing its new OS for its new phones out of the box.

The best bet in the meantime, for Pixel device owners desperate to get on board with the new OS, is to download the Android 15 beta, which is thought to be quite close to being the final version.

The Android 15 Beta has now been made available for the new Pixel 9 range having previously only been available for owners of previous generation Pixels until today.

Users will need to sign-up for the Android Beta for Pixel program to get on board with the latest test version of the operating system. We’ve got full instructions on how to sign up for the Android 15 beta here.

The short version of the process is here:

• Sign into Chrome on same account linked to your phone
• Use Google Chrome to search for Android Beta Program
• Scroll down to Your Eligible Devices and click Opt In
• Select Confirm and Enroll, and then OK
• Open up Settings on your Phone
• Scroll down to System and select it
• Select Software updates
• Press on Check for update
• Select Download and install
• Wait for download to complete
• Select Restart Now