Rumors are swirling that Google is preparing to release the next-generation of Android operating system, dubbed Ice Cream, some time in summer this year, Pocket-lint sources claim.

As per Pocket-lint sources' claims, the latest version of Android will be announced at Google's I/O developer conference in May 2011 in San Francisco, with a possible release in July.

The most recent official Android operating system release is Gingerbread, version 2.3. But, one of Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc smartphones was reportedly spotted running Android's new version, Android 2.4.

Earlier also, Google named its Android operating system version after desserts, for instance, Donut, Éclair etc.

However, Sony Ericsson Head of Marketing Peter Farmer stated, "We are launching with Gingerbread for the Xperia Arc."

But, the timing of the speculated release date of rumored Ice Cream seems to fall in line with Google's 2 to 3 Android product launches per year. Google's Froyo was also announced in May last year.

It is very much possible that Ice Cream would be different enough to have its own version, but it could bring a heavy amount of Honeycomb features to handsets.