(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Android and ChromeOS are set to merge together. The plans for Google combining platforms previously leaked with Android Authority spotting the change back in November last year. Now, an executive has confirmed Google plans to combine the two operating systems into one platform.
In an interview with TechRadar, president of the Android ecosystem at Google, Sameer Samat, briefly mentioned the plans to merge ChromeOS with the world’s biggest mobile operating system. ChromeOS is the software manufacturer's use on Chromebook laptops.
Samat asked the reporter interviewing him about why they use Apple products including an Apple Watch, iPhone, and Mac. He continued, “I asked because we’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very interested in how people are using their laptops these days and what they’re getting done.”
The executive didn’t share anything further about Google's plans, but this is the first time the company has publicly confirmed the plans. The idea of merging Android and ChromeOS has long been speculated on with rumors kicking off all the way back in 2015.
In November's leak, sources said Google plans to bring ChromeOS features over to Android, rather than it making a brand new platform.
Google has brought a lot of new features for larger displays over to Android in recent years. Features like external display support, resizable windows, and desktop mode may have been a way for the company to start laying the groundwork for a ChromeOS merger.
We'll have to wait for more information from Google to know more. It'll be interesting to see how Google frames this for customers, and whether it will be retiring the ChromeOS name altogether. It may be this move will be mostly focused on unifying the software to speed up development for future versions.
Google’s software teams are growing used to major overhauls. Android 16 came out in June, which is earlier in the year than most recent iterations of the software. The company was able to do this after moving to a Trunk Stable Development model. Google has said it was a major departure for the team, and it's likely bringing ChromeOS and Android together will prove to be another big overhaul.