The Android operating system is incredibly versatile. Beyond smartphones, it officially powers tablets, watches, TVs, cars, and XR headsets. However, it has virtually no presence on traditional PCs, where Google instead relies on ChromeOS. Despite Google’s efforts to challenge the dominance of Windows and macOS, ChromeOS remains a distant third. To close this gap, the company is unifying ChromeOS and Android into a single desktop platform, codenamed ‘Aluminium OS.’ Here’s what we know so far.
Android on PCs: The story so far One year ago, Android Authority exclusively revealed Google’s plan to rally behind Android as its unified desktop OS. Our source indicated that this shift aims to create products that better compete with the iPad while making more effective use of development resources. In July, a Google executive confirmed part of our reporting, revealing that the company intends to merge ChromeOS and Android into a single platform. Finally, at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in September, Google officially announced it is bringing Android to the PC market. The company stated it is collaborating with Qualcomm to build a new platform that converges mobile and desktop computing, leveraging recent advancements in AI.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon (left) and Google SVP of Devices and Services Rick Osterloh (right) announcing a joint project to bring Android to PCs.
While we now know Google is building Android for PCs, there are still many unknown details. Is Google retiring the ChromeOS brand? Will existing Chromebooks receive the new operating system, or will they be left behind? Will this OS arrive only on budget machines, or target premium PCs as well? What will the interface actually look like, and what new features can we expect?
These are the burning questions as Google continues developing the platform. We likely won’t have all the answers until we get closer to launch, but thanks to job listings and bug reports, we’ve uncovered early details that offer some clues.
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Aluminium OS: Google’s PC ambitions take shape Over the weekend, a tipster on Telegram named Frost Core shared a link to an intriguing Google job listing for a ‘Senior Product Manager, Android, Laptop and Tablets.’ While we already know Google is bringing Android to the PC, the listing explicitly states that the role involves ‘working on a new Aluminium, Android-based, operating system.’ This effectively confirms that Aluminium is the codename for the new unified platform. The name appears to be a nod to the project’s roots: like Chromium (the open-source version of ChromeOS), Aluminium is a metal ending in ‘-ium.’ The choice of the British spelling — emphasizing the ‘Al’ prefix — likely pays homage to Android serving as the project’s foundation.”
Much like Android XR, Google says its new Aluminium OS is ‘built with artificial intelligence (AI) at the core.’ This implies deep integration with Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot and large language model (LLM). At the Snapdragon Summit, Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of Devices and Services, outlined the company’s plans to bring its AI stack to PCs: “This is another way we can leverage all of the great work we’re doing together on our AI stack, our full stack, bringing Gemini models, bringing the assistant, bringing all of our applications and developer community into the PC domain. And I think this is another way in which Android is gonna be able to serve everyone in every computing category.”
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