Let’s talk about the big news that dropped at the recent Snapdragon Summit 2025 in Hawaii. Google is merging Android and ChromeOS! Now, when you hear a word like “merge,” it’s easy to jump to conclusions. Some headlines might even make it feel like Google is picking a favourite child, getting ready to kill ChromeOS and send it to a digital farm upstate in favour of a PC version of Android.
But before you start writing a eulogy for your beloved, simple, and speedy operating system, take a deep breath. ChromeOS isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s about to get a whole lot cooler, and Google’s top brass is excited to tell you why.
So, what’s actually happening? This isn’t a hostile takeover; it’s a brilliant evolution. Think of it less as an ending and more as ChromeOS getting a super-powered Android engine transplant. At the summit, Google’s SVP of Platforms & Devices, Rick Osterloh, explained that they are building “a common technical foundation for our products on PCs and desktop computing systems.” That “foundation,” as reported by 9to5Google, is Android.
The driving force behind this move? A unified AI experience. Sameer Samat, President of the Android ecosystem, painted a clear picture of the goal. “In the Android ecosystem, you have all these different devices, and you want your AI to be able to work across all of them,” he said. “So that’s the new era.”
By building ChromeOS on top of Android, Google’s engineers don’t have to build Gemini’s AI magic twice. This move, Osterloh added, is “another way that we can leverage all of the great work we’re doing together on our AI stack… bringing Gemini models… and our application and developer community into the PC domain.”
But does this technical shift mean the ChromeOS experience you know and love is vanishing? Not a chance. Samat was emphatic on this point: “If you think about the laptop form factor, we’ve had ChromeOS for a long time, and we’re super committed to that platform… the ChromeOS experience will remain, but its baseline technology will switch to running on Android.”
Beyond a smarter AI, this unified platform has another major perk for users: native Android apps. That’s right. Soon, you’ll be able to run your favourite apps and games from the Google Play Store seamlessly on your Chromebook, no clunky emulators required.
It’s a future that’s already turning heads. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, who has had a sneak peek into the new desktop Android OS, couldn’t contain his excitement on stage. “I’ve seen it. It’s incredible,” he gushed. “I think it delivers on the vision of conversions in mobile and PC. And I can’t wait to have one.”
So, relax, ChromeOS fans. Your favourite operating system isn’t being replaced. It’s being reborn stronger, faster, and a whole lot smarter. The future of ChromeOS is bright, and it’s powered by the best of both worlds. Now, isn’t that something to be excited about?
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