New processors and 6G network technology are not the only reveals at this year’s Snapdragon Summit. During the event, Google’s head of platforms and devices Rick Osterloh sat down with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon to discuss the plans for the future, including a desktop version of the Android operating system.
Osterloh explained that Google had always used different systems for PCs and smartphones in the past, but is now embarking on a project to combine the two. He also confirmed that the company plans to bring Gemini and the full Android AI stack into the PC ecosystem, along with all of its applications and developer community.
Amon chimed in to remark that he has seen a version of the software, claiming that it “delivers on the vision of convergence of mobile and PC”. Regarding the idea of a PC running on the OS, he declared that he “can’t wait to have one”. At the moment, Qualcomm’s involvement in this project is unclear, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see an Android PC running on a Snapdragon chip, given that the company is also manufacturing processors for laptops.
Of course, this is not the first time we have heard of a desktop version of Android. Rumours from a few years back suggested that Google was toying with the idea of merging ChromeOS with Android. The company denied the existence of such plans at the time.
However, earlier this year, Google’s head of Android ecosystem Sameer Samat confirmed that the company is folding ChromeOS into Android. The executive also took to the stage during Qualcomm’s announcement keynote to reveal that this PC version of the OS will be coming next year. Aside from that, he explained how the new software will offer the ChromeOS experience on an Android base.
(Source: The Verge [1], [2])
