AfterDawn: News

Report: Google to merge Chrome OS into Android by 2017

According to a new report, Google plans to merge its Chrome OS operating system into its Android mobile operating system by 2017.

There is expected to be a beta of the unified operating system next year ahead of the full launch in two years.



The move is unsurprising. Chrome OS has been popular for certain niches (like schools) but otherwise never really gained traction. Many of the features of Chrome OS are already in Android, as well, or well known to Chrome browser users on desktop or mobile.

Android is a clear winner, with over 1 billion global users, which also means there is a hefty base of users that are already comfortable with the OS. Adding Android to notebooks could be huge since Android is free compared to Windows which costs OEMs for each license.

If accurate, the large screen Android will give consumers access to the Google Play Store and developers can offer apps that will work with all screen sizes with little extra code (potentially) compared to writing for different operating systems.

Source:
WSJ

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Oct 2015 0:08

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• 3 comments

• thebox

  So no change then?
  
  Chrome OS is just a browser
  Android OS includes the Chrome Browser
  Maybe what they are saying is that not only will there be Android tablets, but there will now be actual Android Pc's?
  

  ahhhhh!!! cobras

  30.10.2015 08:31 #1

• CU45

  Android PCs, I think I could get behind that....minus all the Google bloatware.
  

  30.10.2015 12:28 #2

• Bozobub

  Originally posted by thebox: So no change then?
  
  Chrome OS is just a browser
  Android OS includes the Chrome Browser
  Maybe what they are saying is that not only will there be Android tablets, but there will now be actual Android Pc's?
  No, Chrome OS IS a browser; there's literally nothing else to it. Android is a full, more traditional OS and is far more flexible; for example, you can run a different browser altogether, even though many (but not all) versions use the Chrome browser by default (which is just a piece of software, not the entire OS). It's not even close to the same thing.
  
  And yes, this means you will start to see lower-end "Android PCs".

  30.10.2015 12:46 #3