Google I/O 2026: everything announced so far, from Gemini Intelligence to the death of the Chromebook

Google I/O 2026 begins on Monday at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, and the company has already shown much of its hand. The two-day developer conference, which runs 19–20 May with a keynote at 10 a.m. PT, is expected to formalise a set of announcements that Google began rolling out a week early through a pre-recorded Android Show on 12 May. The headline items, Gemini Intelligence, Googlebooks, Android XR glasses, and Android 17, collectively represent the most aggressive integration of AI into Google’s consumer products since the company pivoted to an AI-first strategy in 2023.

Gemini Intelligence: the AI layer underneath Android

The centrepiece of Google’s pre-I/O announcements is Gemini Intelligence, a suite of agentic AI features that move Gemini from a chatbot interface into the operating system itself. Rather than waiting for users to open a separate app, Gemini Intelligence is designed to operate across apps, understand screen context, and complete multi-step tasks autonomously. Google’s demonstrations showed the system finding a class syllabus in Gmail, identifying the required textbooks, and adding them to a shopping cart, all without the user switching between applications.

Additional features include Smart Autofill, which uses Gemini’s contextual understanding to populate form fields across apps and Chrome; Rambler, a speech-to-text tool that removes filler words and restructures dictated text into coherent sentences; and Create My Widget, which lets users describe a custom widget in natural language and have Gemini generate it on the spot, pulling data from Gmail, Calendar, web searches, and other Google services. The features will roll out this summer on the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices, with expansion to watches, cars, glasses, and laptops later this year.

Google is framing Gemini Intelligence as a new category of AI integration, not a feature bolted onto existing software but an intelligence layer that runs underneath Android. The approach is a direct response to Apple’s forthcoming AI-powered Siri reboot, expected at WWDC in June, and to the broader competitive pressure from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other companies building agentic AI systems. Whether Gemini Intelligence delivers on the promise of autonomous task completion will depend on execution, but the ambition is clear: Google wants its AI to be the default way users interact with their phones. The EU is already preparing to force Google to open Android to rival AI assistants under the Digital Markets Act, which may complicate that ambition in Europe.

Googlebooks replace Chromebooks

The second major announcement is Googlebooks, a new category of premium Android-powered laptops that effectively replace Chromebooks. The devices run Aluminium OS, a version of Android 17 rebuilt as a desktop operating system with a custom window manager, native multitasking, and Gemini embedded at the operating system level. Google has killed the Chromebook, or at least rebranded it into something more ambitious.

Googlebooks will ship this autumn from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Key features include Magic Pointer, which turns the cursor into an AI agent capable of performing actions on screen, and the same Create My Widget system available on phones. The devices will support Android apps natively and can stream phone apps from a paired smartphone.

The move resolves a strategic question that has lingered for more than a decade: whether Google would merge Android and ChromeOS into a single platform. Reports of a unification effort date back to at least 2015, and Google experimented with various bridges, including running Android apps on ChromeOS, before arriving at the current approach of rebuilding Android for desktop use. Whether Aluminium OS can compete with Windows and macOS in the enterprise remains an open question, but Google’s pitch, AI-native computing from the ground up, is at least differentiated.

Android XR glasses

Google has confirmed it will preview Android XR smart glasses at I/O 2026, offering a first look at consumer-ready Gemini-powered eyewear. The glasses are equipped with cameras, microphones, and speakers, and work in tandem with a paired Android phone. An optional in-lens display provides contextual information privately, and Gemini 2.5 Pro powers real-time translation, navigation, messaging, and visual understanding.

Google has lined up hardware partners including Samsung, Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and XREAL, a strategy designed to offer glasses across a range of price points and styles. Samsung is expected to launch its Galaxy Glasses this year, building on the Galaxy XR headset that already runs Android XR. The breadth of the partnership network suggests Google is positioning Android XR as a platform play rather than a single-product bet, aiming to do for smart glasses what Android did for smartphones.

The competitive context is significant. Meta has sold more than seven million Ray-Ban smart glasses and controls roughly 82 per cent of the market. Apple, Google, and Snap are all preparing rival products, each with cameras, raising privacy questions that the industry has not resolved since the original Google Glass backlash in 2013. Google’s bet is that Gemini’s contextual AI capabilities, combined with a multi-brand hardware ecosystem, can offer a compelling alternative to Meta’s head start.

Android 17 and everything else

Android 17, currently in beta, will receive significant stage time at I/O. Google has previewed 3D emoji (branded Noto 3D), enhanced Find Hub features with biometric security and the ability to mark devices as lost, and new operating system verification tools. Some rumours suggest Google may introduce iOS-style blur and glass effects across parts of the interface, though no major UI overhaul is expected.

Google also announced a wireless iPhone-to-Android transfer tool, a feature that directly targets users considering a switch from Apple. Pause Point, a tool designed to interrupt mindless scrolling by prompting users to take a break, and expanded Android Auto features with Material 3 Expressive design, widgets, video app support, and Dolby Atmos were also among the pre-I/O reveals.

The keynote itself is expected to address Gemini model updates. While it is unclear whether Google will announce Gemini 4.0 or another 3.x iteration, multiple reports suggest a major capability overhaul is planned, potentially to compete with OpenAI’s GPT-5.5. Google Search, Chrome, and Workspace integrations are also likely to feature prominently, along with updates to the company’s cloud and developer tools.

What to watch for

The keynote livestream begins at 1 p.m. ET on 19 May and will be available on Google’s official I/O website and YouTube channel. In-person registration is full, but the event is free to watch online. Developer sessions and workshops continue through 20 May.

The volume of pre-announcements, Gemini Intelligence, Googlebooks, Android XR glasses, Android 17 features, suggests that the keynote will focus less on individual product reveals and more on a unified narrative: Google is embedding AI into every surface it controls, from phones to laptops to glasses to cars. The question is whether that narrative translates into products that work as advertised. Gemini’s rollout has not always been smooth, and Google’s track record with new hardware categories, from Google Glass to the Pixel Tablet, is mixed. But the scope of what Google is attempting at I/O 2026, turning its AI into the default operating layer for an entire device ecosystem, is the most consequential strategic bet the company has made since Android itself.