If you own an Android TV (or Google TV) device then you shouldn’t expect to get an Android 13 update anytime soon. In fact, you shouldn’t expect to get Android 13 at all, as Google has now opted to skip the version. The good news, however, is a beta version of Android 14 for TV has now reportedly been released.
Even though Google has mostly opted to work on a new version each year, newer versions of Android TV have traditionally taken longer to arrive than Android mobile. The most recent version to roll out to devices was Android 12, which officially became available in October 2022, soon after the release of the Chromecast with Google TV HD.
While Android 13 was officially launched in December 2022, and made available for ADT-3 devices and the Android TV emulator, a new Google Git comment confirms that “Android T” (Tiramisu) has already been officially retired.
As a result, the same comment advises developers to avoid creating any images of Android 13. According to 9to5 Google (who first spotted the new comment), an Android TV 14 Beta has now been released to coincide with the release of Android 14 Beta 3 for Pixel phones.
As this is a beta version, it will be quite difficult to get it on a device, so this is unlikely to be something that many homes, if any, will be able to check out. In terms of the stable version, hopefully that will arrive later in the year. When, exactly, is another matter.
As mentioned, Google tends to be quite slow at making Android TV updates available. So slow, in fact, that it has now become easier to just skip Android 13 altogether. Android 13 was released for mobile back in August and the Android 14 Preview program is already on its third beta release.
Even though the stable version of Android 14 for mobile is expected to be released around August, it is probably safe for Android TV and Google TV users to assume their version won’t be released at the same time.
