Katarzyna Petru
Google has officially confirmed something that the industry has been talking about for months. Chrome OS and Android will be merged into a single system. And although this was not announced in the form of a spectacular conference, the words of Sameer Samat – the head of the Android ecosystem – leave no doubt. "We intend to merge Chrome OS and Android into one platform," he told a TechRadar journalist, while also asking why he uses Apple hardware. It sounds like a small jab, but it could be the beginning of a significant change.
Android absorbs Chrome OS. Not the other way around
Contrary to appearances, it is not about creating a completely new system from scratch. As reported earlier, Android will become the foundation, and Chrome OS will be transferred to it. That is: there will be no hybrid, there will be no "third system" – just a more powerful Android with features known from laptops and Chromebooks. And this is where Android 16 comes in, which is already receiving a desktop mode, better management of external displays, and more flexible application windows.
Google asks how we use laptops. And it's no coincidence
Samat didn't share this information for no reason – Google is collecting data. It wants to know what laptops are used for today, how people work, what is annoying. This is typical for a company that tests everything on a small scale before pushing the novelty into the mainstream. And it looks like we are already very close. The systemic change may happen sooner than we expect.
Reactions? Mixed. People are happy, but they also don’t trust
Almost half of the surveyed readers (according to earlier polls) support Google’s decision. But just as vocal is the other side – those who fear greater hardware requirements, issues with updates, and that Google... simply won’t deliver. It must be admitted: the history of Android on tablets and Chromebooks has not always been a success. And now all of this will need to be integrated.
What's next?
We don't yet know the release date, but the moment Google speaks about it openly is a signal: we are in the final stretch. The next versions of Android will be increasingly "laptop-like," and manufacturers' hardware will be ever more ready for change. Is this the end of Chromebooks as we know them? Rather, it's their evolution. With just one question: do we really want this?
