It’s never fun to be in last place. Google has been coasting along with its Android tablets and Chromebooks for years, playing second fiddle to the bigger players in the game.

But the company has a new card up its sleeve: the upcoming merger of its two platforms into something entirely new. Word on the street is that it’s called Aluminium OS, and it’s coming sooner than you might think.

What Is Aluminium OS?

Ever since the failed launch of the Pixel Slate back in 2018, which was Google's first attempt at integrating ChromeOS and Android, onlookers have been wondering what the future of these platforms would be. Reports about a new desktop operating system have been mucking around for years, something that blends ChromeOS with Android.

Google talked about interoperability improvements between ChromeOS and Android at Google I/O 2025. In t...