Marshmellow out with Android M

Late last week Google helped get the rumor mill buzzing again about potential Android M launch names. Obviously, we’d be looking at some M-name dessert, and while there were plenty of theories as to just which name Google might decide on, we really didn’t have much confidence in any one tasty treat. That left us thinking we’d still have several weeks to go before Google was ready to make things official and confirm the ultimate Android M name with us. Instead, we’re starting this week off with a bit of a surprise, as Google’s latest Android statue has just made its debut, confirming the Android Marshmallow name.

A couple hours earlier today, Google dropped an official teaser that something was brewing in its statue garden. Soon we saw an early shot of a still-draped Android M statue waiting to be revealed, and now the secret’s out, with the first pics of the new Android Marshmallow statue arriving.

We’ve got our name, now all we need is the public Android M release. We’ll likely see that happen alongside the release of the rumored pair of new Nexus phones sometime later this year, but the precise timetable is still up in the air. History would suggest we’ve got another couple months to go, but last year we were also waiting until October to see the Lollipop statue; could this year’s statue arriving now signal that Android Marshmallow and the new Nexus phones could be even closer than we thought? (Google’s dev notes suggest not, affirming that “Android 6.0 Marshmallow launches to the public later this fall”)

Update: Along with confirming the Android Marshmallow name, today Google is also giving devs access to the final Android M preview release, as well as the official Android 6.0 SDK. We wondered if Google might just stick with Android 5.2, but this makes the 6.0 numbering official.