After calling off the 2020 edition of its I/O developer conference because of COVID-19 concerns, Google LLC plans to bring back the event this year in an all-virtual format and has already announced the dates: May 18-20.

Google I/O is closely watched in the tech industry because the search giant announces major updates to Android and its consumer hardware lineup at the event. In recent years, Google also took the opportunity to share new information about the artificial intelligence chips available for rent via its public cloud.

The search giant shared the news about I/O 2021 today via an announcement hidden behind a puzzle, according to 9to5Google. The announcement also reveals that the virtual event will run for two days through May 20, with registration set to open soon.

If the previous events are any indication, mobile developers can look forward to Google announcing the beta version of the upcoming Android 12 release, which is currently in preview. The search giant usually pairs the switch from preview to beta mode with the introduction of new features. The Android 12 capabilities announced so far include enhanced lock screen notifications and development tools that make it easier to build apps for smartwatches and handsets with rounded corners. 

In 2019, the last time I/O was held, Google debuted the newest additions to its Pixel smartphone lineup at the event. Reports indicate that the search giant is preparing to introduce as many as three new Pixel devices this year that could ship with an internally designed main processor for the first time. It’s believed that one of the handsets might be foldable. 

Artificial intelligence has been a key focus of the previous two I/O events. In 2019, Google introduced an enhanced version of Google Assistant and AI-powered privacy enhancements, while during the 2018 event executives introduced more than a half-dozen machine learning features.

Moreover, both conferences also saw Google provide updates related to its tensor processing units, the internally developed AI processors that it offers via its public cloud. At this year’s virtual I/O event, the search giant may share more information about the fourth-generation TPUs that it previewed in the middle of 2020 but didn’t formally announce. The fourth-generation chips, which are not yet available on the company’s public cloud, were described as being more than twice as fast as their predecessors.

One of the reasons Google Cloud Platform regularly stars on the I/O agenda is that it’s widely used in the Android developer community. Many developers host the backend components of their apps on the search giant’s infrastructure.

But although Google executives can be expected to discuss many of the same product lines and technologies as in previous years, there’s one area where the 2021 event could differ significantly. Since the last I/O conference in 2019, Google has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of smartwatch maker Fitbit. As a result, smartwatches and smartwatch apps could emerge as a bigger focus.

Photo: Google