Наталя Хандусенко Hot News 15 July 2025, 12:20

The great "OS merger": Google combines ChromeOS and Android into a single platform

ChromeOS and Android have traditionally served two different customer bases, but that will soon change.

In a recent interview, Sameer Samat, president of the Android ecosystem, revealed that ChromeOS and Android are officially merging into a single platform. In fact, Google has been gradually merging the two operating environments for years. The announcement that the merger is finally happening simply confirms what many in the industry have long suspected and assumed, writes TechSpot.

Google began developing ChromeOS in 2009 as part of the open-source ChromiumOS project, which uses the Chrome web browser as its primary user interface. The system was primarily adopted by OEMs building Chromebooks, typically designed for always-on Internet use with limited app compatibility and customization options.

Google’s priorities have shifted over time, and the company is betting on artificial intelligence alongside other big tech players. While the company has made significant efforts to innovate Android in recent years, the ChromeOS platform has remained relatively inert. Android continues to thrive, which is probably why Samat is now talking about Android swallowing ChromeOS.

ChromeOS was designed for multi-window web experiences with multiple windows on large-screen devices, while Android primarily caters to smartphones, tablets, and single-window apps. However, Google is actively working to bring the multi-window experience to large screens on Android.

Android 16 now includes a much-improved desktop mode that allows you to use multiple apps on external displays. Meanwhile, ChromeOS is increasingly integrating Android technologies to support the latest mobile features. At this point, the unification of the two systems seems almost inevitable, although the process is much more complicated than it might seem.

Chromebooks have traditionally been built on x86 processor architectures, especially higher-end models using Intel and AMD chips. Android devices, by contrast, mostly run on Arm processors, which remain the standard for smartphones and tablets.

Combining these two computing platforms could prove to be a difficult task, depending on whether Google plans to combine them only in future devices or ensure backward compatibility.