Google confirms ChromeOS and Android are being merged into ‘a single platform’

Will Sattelberg | Jul 14 2025 - 6:45 am PT

After months of rumors, Google’s Android head has confirmed that ChromeOS is being combined with the company’s mobile platform.

In an interview with TechRadar, Sameer Samat, President of the Android Ecosystem, noted the interview’s usage of Apple’s typical ecosystem of products — including a MacBook Pro and an Apple Watch — before finally acknowledging the writing on the wall with ChromeOS.

“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.”

Unfortunately, the interview — which covered a wide-ranging number of topics, up to and including Android 16, Gemini, and smart glasses — didn’t circle back to this surprise announcement, meaning we don’t exactly have many clues to work through. Our only real hint comes from Samat’s curiosity over, as he says, how people currently use their laptops to get work done. That could hint at a focus towards providing more robust app support on this combined platform, but I’ll admit, that’s pure speculation on my part.

Either way, the writing’s been on the wall for a while now, especially with Google’s ongoing development of a desktop UI experience for Android. Obviously, this move comes with plenty of questions for current ChromeOS users, including how their laptops will adapt to this new platform and if the move to Android will change the typical decade-long support window provided by Google and various Chromebook OEMs. It could also cause plenty of headaches for enterprise users, especially schools, depending on how the rollout is conducted.

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It doesn’t sound like the move is right around the corner, of course — to reiterate, there’s nothing here that would really constitute real details. But with ChromeOS feeling stagnant at times and ARM laptops having a bit of a moment, it feels like there’s no better time than the present to enact this sort of shift.