Now that the release cycle of the KDE Applications 16.04 software suite is coming to an end, as the third and last maintenance update will arrive on July 12, it's time for the KDE developers to concentrate their efforts on the next series.

We've always wondered what will be the next version of the KDE Applications software suite for KDE Plasma 5.7, and now we know, as the release schedule of KDE Applications 16.08 has been published recently in the usual places.

Development on KDE Applications 16.08 already started, and, next week, on July 14, the project will enter dependency freeze. This will happen just two days after the release of KDE Applications 16.04.3 for the KDE Plasma 5.7.1 desktop environment.

We will be able to get the Beta release of KDE Applications 16.08 for a test drive one week later, on July 21. Then, on August 4, the Release Candidate (RC) build will be available for public testing.

The final KDE Applications 16.08 release is set to arrive on August 18, 2016, just in time for the KDE Plasma 5.7.4 desktop environment, which should hit the streets a few days after, on August 23.

As expected, KDE Applications 16.08 will have three maintenance updates. The first one, KDE Applications 16.08.1 arrives on September 8, the second one, KDE Applications 16.08.2 on October 13, and the last one, KDE Applications 16.08.3 on November 10.

By then the KDE Plasma 5.7 series would have already reached the end of its life, and work on the KDE Plasma 5.8 (version not yet confirmed) release ongoing, most probably with a Beta available to the public.