- More details have been spilled about Google's incoming desktop OS merger
- A job ad provides info on how this mix of Android and ChromeOS will work
- The plans for ‘Aluminium OS' sound far-reaching and certainly have exciting potential for desktop PCs and more affordable AI laptops
We've learned more details about Google's plan to merge Android with ChromeOS to make a new and improved desktop operating system thanks to a job listing.
Android Authority spotted the LinkedIn advert (which has now been taken down) for a ‘Senior Product Manager, Android, Laptop and Tablets' based in Taiwan who will be involved in a “new Aluminium, Android-based, operating system”.
Take all of this with some seasoning, but it appears to confirm the Aluminium name – or more likely a code name, in the same vein as Chromium, which is the underlying engine of Google's Chrome browser – as well as revealing more about how this desktop take on Android will work.
We're told Aluminium (yes, it's supposed to be the non-US spelling) will be an OS with AI at its core (no surprises there), and that Google has wide-ranging plans for the platform. Support across all form-factors is mentioned: laptops, tablets, 2-in-1s, and ‘boxes' which refers to desktop PCs (which are, after all, big boxes – or indeed small ones otherwise known as mini PCs). Furthermore, support across all tiers from entry-level to premium devices is planned, too.
In short, this will be a new desktop platform spanning all price brackets and types of devices.
Tellingly, the position advertised is responsible for driving both “ChromeOS and Aluminium platforms and devices” which suggests that the two platforms will exist in parallel.
At the same time, the blurb for the job ad mentions a strategy for transitioning “Google from ChromeOS to Aluminium with business continuity in the future.”
That suggests Aluminium will replace ChromeOS eventually, as…