diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index ba5cbfb6279..c7704ce9538 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "1.70.0"
+  ".": "1.71.0"
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 17f272168f0..a91f4aeba8e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [1.71.0](https://github.com/googleapis/java-genai/compare/v1.70.0...v1.71.0) (2026-09-10)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **examples:** declare the explicit response type instead of `var` ([ffd4500](https://github.com/googleapis/java-genai/commit/ffd450012742de21d9212ec667a21fc21043a8a5))
+
 ## [1.70.0](https://github.com/googleapis/java-genai/compare/v1.69.0...v1.70.0) (2026-09-02)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8af1b101459..c5f29a5c0e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ If you're using Maven, add the following to your dependencies:
   <dependency>
     <groupId>com.google.genai</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-genai</artifactId>
-    <version>1.70.0</version>
+    <version>1.71.0</version>
   </dependency>
 </dependencies>
 ```
diff --git a/examples/pom.xml b/examples/pom.xml
index abaa20cec8e..afb6ad280c6 100644
--- a/examples/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
   <groupId>com.google.genai.examples</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-genai-examples</artifactId>
-  <version>1.71.0-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-genai:current} -->
+  <version>1.71.0</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-genai:current} -->
   <name>google-genai-examples</name>
 
   <properties>
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
     <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
     <!-- {x-version-update-start:google-genai:current} -->
-    <google-genai.version>1.71.0-SNAPSHOT</google-genai.version>
+    <google-genai.version>1.71.0</google-genai.version>
     <!-- {x-version-update-end} -->
   </properties>
   <build>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d6049395167..e6b713ac4e6 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <groupId>com.google.genai</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-genai</artifactId>
   <name>google-genai</name>
-  <version>1.71.0-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-genai:current} -->
+  <version>1.71.0</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-genai:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <description>
     Java idiomatic SDK for the Gemini Developer APIs and Vertex AI APIs.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/genai/ApiClient.java b/src/main/java/com/google/genai/ApiClient.java
index e45fc9a4f43..c7e7c4ada6b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/genai/ApiClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/genai/ApiClient.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
 public abstract class ApiClient implements AutoCloseable {
 
   // {x-version-update-start:google-genai:released}
-  private static final String SDK_VERSION = "1.70.0";
+  private static final String SDK_VERSION = "1.71.0";
   // {x-version-update-end:google-genai:released}
   private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(ApiClient.class.getName());
 
@@ -680,9 +680,9 @@ private Optional<Map<String, String>> getTimeoutHeader(HttpOptions httpOptionsTo
    * Merges two user agent values, handling a special case for vertex-genai-modules.
    *
    * <p>Example:
-   * <li>val1 = google-genai-sdk/1.70.0 gl-java/22.0.2
-   * <li>val2 = vertex-genai-modules/1.70.0
-   * <li>Result: google-genai-sdk/1.70.0+vertex-genai-modules/1.2.3 gl-java/22.0.2
+   * <li>val1 = google-genai-sdk/1.71.0 gl-java/22.0.2
+   * <li>val2 = vertex-genai-modules/1.71.0
+   * <li>Result: google-genai-sdk/1.71.0+vertex-genai-modules/1.2.3 gl-java/22.0.2
    *
    * @param val1 The first value.
    * @param val2 The second value.
diff --git a/versions.txt b/versions.txt
index 49687ea8f0d..f9f9998ab78 100644
--- a/versions.txt
+++ b/versions.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Format:
 # module:released-version:current-version
 
-google-genai:1.70.0:1.71.0-SNAPSHOT
\ No newline at end of file
+google-genai:1.71.0:1.71.0
\ No newline at end of file