The latest Android 13 beta build arrived last month as beta 4, a promise from Google that this is the last of the betas. Not counting the 4.1 update to address some bugs, Google said the next update to Android 13 will be a stable release in the coming weeks. Today, as part of the release of Android August security bulletins, Google revealed that Android 13 will be released in AOSP on September.
The surprising “Android 13 Security Release Notes” was posted on the Android Security Bulletin page that Google posts monthly bulletins for as it releases new monthly updates for its Pixel phones. It pushes both general Android security bulletins as well as Pixel/Nexus-specific bulletins with this special Android 13 note within the general section.
We collect rare notes before, after to notice That Google posted the August patch bulletin for its Pixel phones without posting factory images or OTA files.
In the note, Google explains that Android 13 devices are “protected against these issues with a security patch level of 2022-09-01 or later,” which they later list as “fixed security vulnerabilities as part of Android 13.” Google then noted that “Android 13 released in AOSP will have a default security patch level of 2022-09-01.” And that’s where we jump into the idea that Android 13 will arrive on September.
Apart from the seemingly late arrival of Android 12 in October last year, Google released Android 10 and Android 11 in early September. Android 9 “Pie” was released in early August 2018 for reference only.
Now, if Google pushes Android 13 to AOSP in early September, we may or may not see it on our Pixel phones. For Android 12, Google pushed the code to AOSP, but then didn’t push the update to Pixel phones for several weeks. This move is an outlier in the grand scheme of new Android build rollouts and could be for a variety of reasons. Android 12 was a huge update, and its timing with Google’s fancy new Pixel 6 phone made a lot of sense. In most previous years, AOSP meant same-day updates for the Pixel.
Want a date for Android 13 in September? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to casually pencil in September 6. Google likes to release updates on the first Monday of every month, but it’s also September 5th and Labor Day. Google now says that if the first Monday is a holiday it pushes updates on the following “working” day, which would be the 6th. I can’t imagine a better time to drop Android 13 than then.
Note: That last paragraph has been updated since September 5 is Labor Day, so Google will likely release the update on September 6.