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News that ChromeOS will be merging with Android is music to my ears. Not because I want ChromeOS to disappear — I have many fond memories traveling across the US with my Chromebook in tow — but because I really, really want Android running on my laptop.
I recently spent time with Android 16’s beta Desktop Mode, and although it’s not feature-complete quite yet, I came away thoroughly impressed. Android’s Desktop Mode is already rich with typical PC features, including window management, multi-desktop support, accessory hot-plugging, and external storage. Despite being in beta, it feels remarkably close to a full-fledged desktop OS, save for the occasional bug.
Many of our readers already find the idea of Desktop Mode on smartphones exciting, so it stands to reason that Android should start appearing in PC products too. The beta setup already runs smoothly on my Pixel 9’s not-quite bleeding edge Tensor G4 processor, suggesting the fledgling OS could thrive in the budget segment. With desktop-class Arm or x86 power behind it, the platform could truly shine as a power-user workstation, handling multimedia editing and gaming with ease.
Do you think Android 16’s Desktop Mode is a good ChromeOS replacement?
47 votes
Of course, that might leave ChromeOS without much of a role to fill — but based on my time with Android’s Desktop Mode, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It already does nearly everything you’d want from a Chromebook while avoiding some of the platform’s long-standing pitfalls.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see the appeal of bringing Android’s vast ecosystem — complete with productivity tools, social apps, and popular games we already know and love — to the keyboard and mouse crowd. ChromeOS has done a respectable job bridging that gap, but Android’s Desktop Mode promises a notable step up.
Android’s Desktop Mode is already in a great place
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I don’t want to imply ChromeOS is a second-rate OS — far from it. Since its early days as little more than a glorified web browser, ChromeOS has grown to include a variety of handy features. It now boasts a modest but healthy ecosystem of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), Android app support on newer models, and even Linux underpinnings for more adventurous users. You can accomplish quite a lot on ChromeOS today and be perfectly satisfied.
Still, even the most premium ChromeOS devices sometimes feel like a patchwork of ideas stitched together to broaden the platform’s appeal. For instance, Android apps often can’t be resized into desktop windows because some developers haven’t yet enabled flexible layouts. And while you can install Linux apps with a GUI (via .deb packages), it still demands comfort with Linux conventions that casual users might find daunting.
Android’s Desktop Mode isn’t flawless yet either. It still struggles with some app resizing quirks and will need more developers to embrace PC-first features. Encouragingly, extensions appear to be heading to Chrome for Android, which is exactly the kind of quality-of-life improvement consumers will expect on future Android PCs. If there’s one lingering concern, it’s that Google must ensure essentials like file browsing and extensions are industry-standard come launch.
Chromebooks have been great, but Android PCs would be a real level up.
Fortunately, centering the core experience around Android apps means the critical ecosystem pieces are already well-integrated. And there’s potential for much more. ChromeOS has useful tools for viewing notifications and sending SMS messages from your phone, but an all-Android setup would have native notification, privacy, and device syncing baked in. That could pave the way for even tighter cross-device interactions. Granted, some of these perks already exist with Samsung DeX or when docking your phone, but a unified Android PC platform could deliver cross-device integration akin to Apple’s Continuity. Pixels are already partway there thanks to last year’s Feature Drop.
Likewise, vast numbers of developers already target Android across phones, tablets, foldables, wearables, TVs, and more. Google continues to push for form-factor flexibility, so adding PCs into the mix at this point is a modest evolution for a platform that’s already near-universal.
It’s all coming together
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Android’s journey from a phone OS to an all-encompassing platform has been a long time coming. Between tablets and foldables, Google has steadily embraced new form factors while keeping the core experience and developer framework largely consistent. Moving into desktop territory is the biggest leap yet, but the payoff of truly universal apps that “just work” across phone, tablet, and PC is enormous.
As much as Apple has tried to unify its ecosystem, running separate operating systems on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac inevitably creates disconnects in how apps work across its lineup. Despite features like Universal Purchase and Catalyst apps that try to bridge the gap, there’s still often a disconnect: the same app might look or behave differently across devices, or not be available at all. Apple’s Continuity tools smooth things over brilliantly, but can’t fully unify separate platforms.
Move over Apple Continuity, Android wants to run on everything.
Android is uniquely positioned to finally deliver a single OS across the three major computing platforms. That’s an exciting prospect, especially considering Google’s leadership in AI — something Copilot PCs have only partially delivered on. Having sampled the beta, I’m cautiously optimistic that Google can pull this off. Unfortunately for some, that means ChromeOS will have to step aside.
