It’s no secret that Google wants to bring Android to laptops and desktops, and is even sacrificing Chrome OS to get there. It seems this effort is gaining some serious traction lately, as evidenced by a conversation between Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of platforms and devices, and Qualcomm’s CEO, Christiano Amon, during Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit.
Google may have just dropped its clearest hint yet that Android will soon power more than phones and tablets. At today’s Snapdragon Summit kickoff, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Google’s SVP of Devices and Services Rick Osterloh discussed a new joint project that will directly impact personal computing.
“In the past, we’ve always had very different systems between what we are building on PCs and what we are building on smartphones,” Osterloh said on stage. “We’ve embarked on a project to combine that. We are building together a common technical foundation for our products on PCs and desktop computing systems.”
↫ Adamya Sharma at Android Authority
Amon eventually exclaimed that’s he’s seen the prototype devices, and that “it is incredible”. He added that “it delivers on the vision of convergence of mobile and PC. I cannot wait to have one.” Now, marketing nonsense aside, this further confirms that soon, you’ll be able to buy laptops running Android, and possibly even desktop systems running Android. The real question, though, is – would you want to? What’s the gain of buying an Android laptop over a traditional Windows or macOS laptop?
Then there’s Google’s infamous fickle nature, launching and killing products seemingly randomly, without any clear long-term plans and commitments. Would you buy an expensive laptop running Android, knowing full well Google might discontinue or lose interest in its attempt to bring Android to laptops, leaving you with an unsupported device? I’m sire schools that bought into Chromebooks will gradually move over to the new Android laptops as Chrome OS features are merged into Android, but what about everyone else?
I always welcome more players in the desktop space, and anything that can challenge Microsoft and Apple is welcome, but I’m just not sure if I have faith in Google sticking with it in the long run.
First question to ask is whether one would even want google on laptops and desktops. Having a hard enough time degoogling my smafo without adding to the misery on my other computers, thankyouverrymuch.
Apart from that, I would rather have android improving the phone’s desktop modes.
My answer: no way
Chromebooks seemed to have a pretty polished, pretty robust OS, and quite secure. Very good for parents for one thing.
Android seems like such a mess internally, evolved organically and with so much cruft. It seems to work ok though on the popular devices.
Don’t know, I guess I’d buy an Android latop, at the right price (something like the Chromebook Duet), for browsing an such. It does seem useful to be able to install some Android apps, some of which work better than the equivalent web apps.
They already did this, I had a netbook that dual-booted Windows 7 and Android 1.0. I only booted into it once and it was dreadful.
Now that Android is roadmapped to no longer be usable as a general-purpose OS it is even less likely that anyone would want it on their desktop.
Judging Android by its 2008 version isn’t very fair though.
Still, I agree with you that I see no purpose in running Android on a general purpose computer. And still, it can be helpful in restricting kids and locking them so strictly that they won’t enjoy all the mischief that was a part of childhood back when we were kids (yeah yeah, I know, with internet, tiktok and stuff, it’s no longer safe).
cevvalkoala,
How privileged we were to be able to get under the hood to break and fix things! Kids with locked devices today aren’t learning these stills. Modern tech is making society dumber, making us less self-sufficient and more dependent. Today’s platforms are promoting mindless consumption while discouraging paths to developing real tech skills. Even if a tiny fraction of parents manage to give their kids access to something less dummified and more meaningful, the damage to education and independence are taking their toll at scale.
I am not saying technology should force people to get their hands dirty under the hood. But for fucks sake don’t deny owners low level access to their hardware if they want it. Unfortunately tech companies going all in on business models that promote owner restrictions like walled gardens, stifle free markets, and take away owner rights.
So as it pertains to this topic, google has not earned my trust that it wouldn’t make the computing situation even worse for desktop users.
Who would this operating system be for?
Casual internet browsers looking at facebook and gamers who only play mobile games? It would right off the bat have the same issue that ChromeOS and Linux have/had for desktop adoption. No AAA productivity apps.
Yeah, I know people will argue about all the alternative software available, but at the end of the day, even as a die hard macOS user, business runs off of all the horrible Microsoft and Adobe ecosystem of apps, and that will never land on android. Just like they never landed on ChromeOS or Linux natively. Neither will anything from SolidWorks, AutoCad, Canva.. etc.
It would also have to same issue that macOS has now that is lives on Arm. The lack of any AAA games that aren’t emulated in some hacked way. If there isn’t a Steam client, If it doesn’t work out-of-the-box, the general public will never adopt it. I would have to have a lot of AAA apps and games available day one for mass adoption (without any advanced terminal hackery) , or it would fall into the ChromeOS and Linux category of hobby OS’s.
Android has a lot of its own games, and with better cooling on a laptop, it will be great.
Even some PvP titles will win from that perspective. Like PUBG Mobile, which you are not allowed to play in an emulator.
I don’t think they will be good competitors to MacBooks, but for Windows ARM machines, it’s a different story.
That is if you call free to play IAP fests games.
Otherwise, Android has zero games.
Trust a Google OS on my laptops or desktops? Yeah, sure, about as much as Red Star OS. Why not?
Never ever
You can just run Android on Raspberry Pi 5. The trickiest part is setting up the Google Play. And then operating the OS and apps without a touch screen.
Yes,
“But, how, why?”
Apparently there was an internal “OS civil war” inside Google: Chrome OS vs Android, and Android won.
Previously, Fuchsia was relegated to a corner role too (smart devices and displays). — At one point it was supposed to replace Android, but it replaced Chrome as well (ChromeCast was running Chrome OS).
What does this mean?
It is extremely unlikely Google will abandon their only foothold in laptops and desktops. Android has been available on those platforms since day one (yes since late 2000s), and there is now no reason for it to be abandoned.
In fact, I would say Android on these devices have a stronger future now.
Android has been available on laptops and desktops since day one, but it was always a hackjob done by OEMs. Officially, Android never supported anything bigger than landscape-mode tablets (it does support external physical keyboards and mice, though, which is how OEMs were able to hack it into laptops and desktops).
The problem Android has is that so many of its apps aren’t designed with physical keyboards and mice in mind, some aren’t even designed with landscape mode in mind.
> The problem Android has is that so many of its apps aren’t designed with physical keyboards and mice in mind, some aren’t even designed with landscape mode in mind.
…or ethernet. It’s a perfect moment for them to learn or disappear.
kurkosdr,
That is true, this was on backseat. But since Chromebooks got official Android support, and tablets became popular, more display options became widely available. Still not all apps, but plenty of them to be useful.
And… this might have been Chrome’s own undoing. By abandoning their custom native API, and then bringing Android (and Linux) in, they were relegated into a simple browser on a generic Linux desktop.
(Not so generic, there is awesome things on the background… but end user does not care).
If all Chrome apps are either Android or PWA, why not fully switch to Android?
Was the question (I assume)
They already did this. Remember the Asus Transformer, a $700 laptop that got security updates for all of 12 months?
As bad as Microsoft or Apple are, their shortest-lived laptops and desktops get at least seven years of security updates. That may not be reasonable but is still 40% better than Google has ever managed.
So why on Earth would I buy an Android laptop or desktop? Even if Android were a great OS with great applications, and even if these laptops and desktops were incredibly cheap and powerful, I’m still amortizing a computer’s purchase price over its service life. Which means that a $300 Android “mini” (at $75-$100 per year) is almost certainly going to be more expensive than a $600 Mac Mini (at $60 per year).
I remember when a bunch of OEMs put out dual boot Android/Windows laptops. Microsoft seemed to put an end to that fad quickly.
Clearly both Qualcomm and Google are looking over at Apple that has this already. The Apple Silicon computers are basically just souped up versions of what they put in their phones. I think the tablets can go either way. But Apple, for now, realizes that the desktop is a different beast than mobile and has not totally killed macOS.
Android runs on the Linux kernel of course. What I think would work well would be and Android OS that ran Wayland, Distrobox and Flatpak. A nice simple, secure, “just works” base OS with access to the massive Linux application universe and all the power that ecosystem represents would be the perfect combination. Call it “developer mode” if you want.
As said elsewhere, my biggest concern is that they would only provide updates for a short period of time and then lock you out of replacing the core OS yourself. That is the part of the “mobile” experience that I have no desire to bring to my laptops or desktops.
People keep saying this, but iPadOS has gotten more macOS like features then vice versa.
Like a full Linux distro, with systemd? Supposedly, there were plans to move ChromeOS over to Wayland, but I’m not sure where those are.
My trust in Microsoft is almost worse compared to my trust in Google, so no issues there, but I do trust both more than I trust anything from Meta. I have less experience with Apple, but I would say my trust is similar to the trust I would place in Google’s hands.
Do have a problem with Google creating a full desktop OS? Not more than I have issues with the offerings of Microsoft and Apple..
How are tablet sized Android applications in 2025? Last time I checked there were few to none that took advantage of the larger screen and different layout, has this changed?
Because otherwise I don’t see where the applications for these new Android laptops will come from.
Of course, it will be locked down [1] and crippled compared to a desktop OS but that may be a plus for some people, as long as they have the apps to use the hardware with.
[1] Didn’t Google announce they will require signed applications even for sideloading soon?
torp,
I had a chromebook this year. I got rid of it because it was way too restrictive to work as a productivity laptop. While I am accustomed to putting in some work to get hardware to work how I like, I did not realize how bad chromebooks were for power users before trying one first hand. Developer mode is required to bypass some of the restrictions, which is fine. I expected this and can do this. However developer mode was objectively unfit for purpose. There is literally zero security.!!! Forget the sophisticated adversary, kids or any random person could literally erase all my files and data with two key presses, not even having to log in. I am stunned at the level of google’s incompetency here.
I gave it to my dad, who is not a power user, and even he lamented the lack of desktop applications. Running android apps on a laptop, which is what you get, isn’t a good experience. On top of this chromebook don’t support most printers. I was wrong to assume a printer compatible with “android” would be compatible with chromebook too, nope.
If a user’s needs is met by the built in browser & apps, or if that user doesn’t mind running software designed for a phone, then chromebook may fit their needs.
Yes.
https://www.androidsage.com/2025/08/26/google-blocks-sideloading-of-android-apps/
Thom, I don’t know if there’s a way to keep this newsworthy, but we must keep the pressure on google to stop these hostilities against owner and developer rights. If we fail to stop it, android will be converted from an open platform to a closed platform. It will be the end of independent software; even developers releasing software on 3rd party stores like fdroid will need to pay google and get google’s permission first.
Moreover, the threat of government oppression becomes far more dire when users don’t have the liberty to sideload on their own devices. Google putting their own greed over our freedoms. Mark my words, governments can and will use these newfound powers that google are giving them. Not only is google making technology more favorable for government control, but they’re doing so voluntarily.
I trust that equally as much as Apple or Microsoft. Which is why I run Linux (Bazzite currently – worth noting, you also have to trust your distro package supplier, so keep that in mind.)
No wag in hell! I am interested in runnin certain Android apps in a desktop operating system but a full Android desktop is idiotic.
jgfenix,
The one android application I really wanted to run on the desktop was one from my bank. Because 1) they don’t offer desktop software, 2) the website doesn’t support echecking, and 3) the mobile banking app doesn’t run on my rooted lineageos phone.
I tried several emulators, including ones that supported the camera interface needed to take a picture of the checks. Alas the banking app that refused to run on lineageos also refused to run in the emulators. I guess it was naive to hope it would work. This is how network effects rope the population into the duopoly while punishing those seeking alternatives. 🙁
My bank’s android app even strongly advises me again and again and again (and again) to install its “antivirus and antimalware” companion app to the phone. I really don’t know what these banking guys are drinking.
Do I trust Google for consumer devices? No. LOL
Android seems fine as an embedded OS. Maybe even as a media player in the living room (ex: Roku, Apple TV, Windows Media) since the streaming services respect Android enough to have official apps.
If Google wants to evolve Android into a full LInux OS, this might have a chance. They could reuse the Android kernel, and add systemd, Wayland, etc. The immutable distributions show the way forward about what a consumer Linus distro would look like.
Google’s treatment of the ChromeOS hardware indicates they shouldn’t be trusted either. People have been crowing about MS locking down PCs with SecureBoot, but that largely hasn’t been the case. In the ChromeOS world, the world built on mostly FOSS, the hardware is incredibly locked down. Sure CoreBoot is supported, but good luck getting anything else installed on that hardware.
Anyway, I get Google wants Android apps developed on Android, and I get Qualcomm is desperate to be relevant in the desktop/laptop space. (Windows isn’t getting them there, and they’re hostile the one demographic who is interested.) This just seems like a bad idea, and like they’re squaring a round peg.
I spent some time looking at a new home router or some power efficient hardware for my infra server, and the market is thin. I just want to run a regular FOSS *nix, and not think about it too much, which is way too much to ask. This is a mature market and Qualcomm figured prominently in my frustration.
Good luck to both, but I don’t see the CEO giving up his Windows or Mac for an Android laptop.
Flatland_Spider,
When you want to bring your own OS ARM becomes a whole ordeal. Even if you’re willing and able to jailbreak an existing product, it’s nerve racking because soldered media means your changes risk permanently bricking the device in an unrecoverable state, which is very stressful.
When I built my routers I knew I wanted to have control over the OS and I figured x86 would save me days or weeks of frustration in the long run. I found some generic x86 bare bones mini PCs with 5 ethernet ports and socketed flash storage. And of course standard boot images are fantastic! x86 computers are easily maintained indefinitely using whatever distro and software I choose. No worrying about vendors dropping support, which is more than I can say about any of the proprietary gear I own. I can fix bugs and add features myself. The negative is that intel chips can to be power hungry for 24×7 applications.
It’s a shame ARM manufacturers aren’t more accommodating towards DIY. It would be nice if RPI sold more hardware form factors for things like routers. I don’t know that they’d have the scales of economy to add more specialty SKUs though.
It really is, and I don’t see a good reason for it. I have perfectly capable equipment sitting around, and it’s kind of useless. My WRT1900 has gotten replaced, but I could use it for a low power server of some sort, for example.
That is a problem, but I’m not even going that far. Maybe one day when I’m bored. I have a QNAP NAS I’d like to switch to a regular OS.
I was looking at GL.iNet equipment that ships with a version of OpenWRT. They have some products which are Qualcomm based, and they aren’t supported by upstream OpenWRT.
That’s where I’m at. I have a little PC Engine board for my router, but I am thinking about upgrading it to something more powerful.
Which is the second point. I didn’t want to run OpenWRT.
Being able to pick and choose the software is a nice feature. I don’t have to deal with the stock software decisions of someone else.
OPNsense has been good, but I’d like to run something else for a little bit.
Yeah, about that. That’s one of the reason’s I’m looking at upgrading. 🙂
I’m also hesitant to pick up something from a vendor that doesn’t have updates on LVFS. A lack of firmware updates from the OEM is concerning.
Exactly. Keeping my power bill low and keeping the load on my Internet UPS reasonable are some of the goals. The home routers are still good at keeping power usage down.
It really is. I’m not a fan of junking equipment which could be repurposed.
That’s kind of what the CM line is for. It lets people buy carrier boards for the features they want. There are some carrier boards for the CM4 with multiple NICs, and I’ve thought about that for some small test networks.
The question should be, “Would I trust Google?”
No. I wouldn’t trust them to help an old lady to cross the street.
What we’ve learned so far about Google is that they absolutely cannot be trusted in any matter. They kill products randomly, they mine on your data, they enshittify their products so that they cannot be used while also breaking compatibility with any third-party clients (see – YouTube). I avoid Google as much as I avoid Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Broadcom and other evil technology warlords. Linux / BSDs on PCs, e/OS or JollaOS or Postmarket OS on phones, self-hosted infra and leave me the fck alone.