Google I/O 2021 developer show kicks off May 18 as a free digital event

Google is holding its I/O developer fair this year completely digitally. The three-day conference starts on May 18 and will be free of charge. Last year, the I/O fair was completely canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The web page for Google I/O 2021 was published on Wednesday, and features several programming puzzles on a digital punched card. Users can solve these puzzles to reveal the dates of the event. The event will take place on May 18, 19 and 20, 9to5Google also writes.

The conference will be free for everyone this year. Google will be making announcements on several of its platforms during the show, including Android, Google Chrome and the Google Assistant. Google will probably show more of Android 12 this year.

Google’s I/O fair is therefore mainly aimed at developers, although the company also holds a keynote every year in which it announces new hardware. For example, in 2019, the company announced its Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones at I/O. It is not yet known whether Google will also show hardware during the fair this year.

Google isn’t the only tech company to hold a digital developer conference this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. For example, Apple announced last month that its WWDC trade show in June will also be held completely digitally, just like last year. Microsoft will also hold its Build conference digitally between May 25 and 27.