Today is Android 13 preview day, with the first Developer Preview landing as you read. While you wait for us to dig through all the nitty-gritty feature-level changes, there's one other important thing to note: Google's release schedule for upcoming previews, betas, and the final release.

The Android 13 release timeline, as provided by Google, is represented just below:

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We're still waiting for more detailed information regarding specific release timing, but Google tells us each dot on the image above corresponds to a release — possibly excluding things like 0.1 and 0.5 bug-fixing updates, which Google has started releasing in the last couple of years for Android betas and previews. That means we should look forward to six "major" releases before Android 13 hits stable, barring any changes to the schedule.

Today's release, Android 13 Developer Preview 1, constitutes the first of two Developer Previews planned, with the next landing in March. In April, Google will switch to slightly more stable Beta releases, with four of those planned. The last two will be Platform Stability milestones when APIs are finalized, the appearance of new features begins to slow, and bug-fixing becomes the priority — for consumers, that means it might start to be okay to test the waters on your "daily driver," if you're willing to provide some feedback and take a small risk.

A date for a final release wasn't provided, and we can't be sure of the scale presented by this image in isolation. Notably, Google held the release of Android 12 last year longer than it usually does, dropping the stable launch with less fanfare than expected during the Pixel 6 launch in October. Previously, Android releases landed in late summer around September or August, and it's not clear if this recent change in timing is the start of a trend or a one-off.

Android 13 DP1 is only available for the Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a series, Pixel 5, and Pixel 6 series, and that's a trend that will likely continue through the rest of the previews and early betas. If history is any indicator, we might start to see some Android 13 previews for other phones when we hit Beta 2 around the time of Google I/O, but things could happen differently this year.

During the Developer Preview period, Android 13 images will have to be manually installed by downloading and sideloading them or using the Android Flash Tool — or you can just play with them in an Android Studio emulator without risking (or owning) a compatible device. Later Betas will be available through the Android Beta Program, with a simple opt-in process.

More specific information regarding the release timeline might be available from Google soon, and we'll update our coverage when and if additional details are available. In the meantime, look forward to a flood of our usual feature-level coverage as we start to dig in.