Google may share updated Material Design at I/O in May

Google introduced its Material Design theme with Android 12 back in 2021, and it brought dynamic color that would use hues from a wallpaper and implement them across the OS. Now, it looks like the company will unveil a new version at its I/O conference in May. This update is said to bring a more ‘expressive’ design to the OS, but details about it are sparse at this time.

The possible update to Material Design as uncovered by Android expert Mishaal Rahman who spotted an issue posted by a developer related to a “Material3Expressive” theme in the GitHub repository for Material Components Android library. To this, a Google engineer said, “Material is experimenting with bringing developers ways to make their apps more engaging by introducing more expressive features. Stay tuned for more updates and guidance!” This suggests than an ‘expressive’ update to Material Design is in the works, which, according to Rahman, is to make apps more ‘expressive.’

As to what changes this update may bring, a redesign for the Settings app was part of Android 16 Beta 3 showing toggles with an X or checkmark icon indicating off/on status, as well as settings grouped into cards. 

Furthermore, Rahman found a one-month old patch titled “DO NOT SUBMIT I/O 2025 Expressive talk code demos” in the AOSP Gerrit, and this patch came with some new code. While this title was reportedly tweaked to remove the “I/O 2025” part, the topic for the patch still has “‘io_talk” in it, hinting at a May Google i/O unveiling. 

Rahman points out that this could even a be a small update to the existing Material Design 3 framework and not a completely new overhaul. Google I/O is scheduled for May 20 but as the date approaches, more information about what the event will include should come to light.