Later this week, Google will be holding the 2015 edition of its yearly developer conference — Google I/O — where it be showcasing the world all the technology that it has been working on since the last year.

Google I/O is the biggest event held by the company every year where it makes some big announcements. This year, the conference is being held from May 28 to May 29 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco.

Last year, Google introduced Android L at the conference along with its Material Design guidelines that the company has gone on to adopt across all its other products and services as well.

So, what will Google announce at its I/O conference this year? While this is still a bit of a mystery, certain leaks have given us a good idea of what to expect from the event. Read below to find out.

Android M

The official Google I/O app for Android itself outed that the company will be unveiling Android M at the event this year. While Android M is not going to bring some major new changes to the table, we do expect it to further add polish to Lollipop.

Android 5.0 may have been the biggest update to Android ever, but the OS is extremely buggy. While Android 5.1 has fixed some of those issues to an extent, there are still a lot of bugs and issues plaguing the OS.

Apart from fixing all the bugs, it will also be great to see Google add some new features to the OS. Reports have indicated that Android M will bring a fingerprint authentication API and a permissions manager app to Android — both of which would be a welcome addition to the OS.

It will also be great to see Google revive Project Volta, which it had teased at last year’s I/O. The changes made in Lollipop along with some new job scheduler APIs should have lead to an increase in battery life for most existing and new Android devices, but that did not happen. Here is hoping that Google further refines Project Volta with Android M that translates into some real-life battery life improvements for existing Android devices.

Android@Home

Google wowed everyone with its Android@Home technology at Google I/O 2013. The company had said back then that it is working with existing hardware partners to bring Android@Home compatible home equipment to the market.

Since then though, the company has remained silent about the project. There has been no word from the company about Android@Home compatible equipment or from any of its hardware partners.

With Apple moving forward in full force ahead with its HomeKit platform, now is the time for Google to restart its Android@Home platform. It is more than likely that Brillo — a special version of Android that is being reportedly by Google for its upcoming Internet of Things platform — will replace Android@Home.

Not much is known about Brillo at this point except that Google is in talks with OEMs that make home routers  about it. The company wants the OS to run on the Wi-Fi router itself, which will act as a centralized hub for all other low-power devices in one’s household.

Android Pay

If there is one scene where Google is miles behind Apple, it is the mobile payment scene. Despite having an early starter advantage, Google could not capitalize on it and Google Wallet was nothing short of an utter failure. Google tried to revive the service multiple times but all its efforts have been in vain. Thankfully for Google, no other company was successful in the NFC based mobile payment market as well.

That is until last year when Apple launched its NFC based mobile payment service — Apple Pay — along with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The service was a runaway hit for the company, and in less than two months since its launch, it surpassed all the mobile payment services in terms of size and popularity.

In a bid to revive its mobile payment service, Google struck a deal with Softcard — the mobile wallet and payment service from T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T in the U.S. — that would allow it to use some of their technologies and pre-load its Wallet app on all Android 4.4+ devices.

Additionally, Google had also revealed at MWC this year that it will be unveiling Android Pay at its I/O conference later this year. Android Pay will provide developers with new APIs for in-store and in-app payments for one-click transactions.

Google+ and Photos

Love it or hate it, but Google+ is Google’s own child and the company does not plan on abandoning it anytime soon. It is likely that we will see Google announce some new features and changes to Google+ at its I/O event. Exactly what changes it will be unveiling at the event are still unknown, but we should see at least 1-2 major changes being announced for the social networking site at its I/O conference.

As for Photos, it is all but confirmed that Google is separating it from Google+. Looking at how useful Photos is, it makes complete sense for Google to separate it from Google+ as it will open up the service to all iOS and Android users.

Google Play Services & Google Now

Play Services is Google’s answer to the fragmentation problem plaguing Android devices. Google is directly able to control the rollout of Play Services, and is able to add new features to Android devices irrespective of the version they are running on via it.

It also plays a major role in allowing Google to have complete control over the Android ecosystem. While OEMs can ship a device with their own take of Android, the handset will not ship with Google Play Services, which means that majority of apps on the Play Store that rely on it will simply not work on that device.

Google recently rolled out v7.5 of Play Services that hints at what all new features it would be announcing at I/O later this week. This includes Nearby — a feature that would make it possible for Android devices to communicate with other devices, places and more that are around them without any input from the user.

Additionally, I would also expect Google to announce a big update for Google Now at its I/O event. Earlier this year, Google started allowing third-party apps to display cards in Google Now, which was among the most often requested features of Now users.

In all probability, Google will announce one or two new features for Now that will rely heavily on its contextual awareness.

I also expect Google to announce an update to further enhance Voice Actions.

Android Wear, Chromecast and more

Google just announced a big update for Android Wear, so it is unlikely that it will announce another update for the OS at its I/O event. However, I expect the company to showcase all the new features that it has added to the OS with this update at its keynote and how third-party apps can take advantage of the new APIs.

Google is also expected to announce an update for Chromecast — its $35 HDMI media streamer — that will add more features to it. While leaks surrounding the device have been nearly non-existent, it is entirely possible that Google may unveil an updated Chromecast with faster Wi-Fi and internals, more codec support at the event.

Also expect Google to talk about and probably announce updates for Android Auto. While the Android Auto platform is yet to go mainstream, Google has got plenty of partners now that are shipping their head units with Android Auto support. 

The above is just a list of all the major announcements that I’m excited about and expect Google to make at I/O later this week. The company will likely announce updates for ChromeOS, its Nest platform, provide us with an update about Project Ara and more later this week.

What are your expectations from this year’s Google I/O? Drop in a comment and let us know!