We know a little more about Google’s long-gestating plans to combine the best parts of Android and ChromeOS into a single OS thanks to a job listing for a product manager to work on “Aluminium OS.” The job ad describes it as “a new operating system built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the core.”
Android Authority first reported on the job listing, which is two months old, but wasn’t spotted until recently. It gives a name — or more likely codename — to Google’s new operating system for the first time, along with the initialism “ALOS.” It specifically describes Aluminium as “Android-based,” and says the company is looking at entry-level, mass market, and premium hardware for the OS.
It doesn’t sound like ChromeOS will be going away entirely though, at least not at first. According to the listing, the team will be responsible for creating “a portfolio of ChromeOS and Aluminium Operating System” devices across various form factors (“laptops, detachables, tablets, and boxes”) and price points. That said, the ad also mentions the need to create a strategy to “transit Google from ChromeOS to Aluminium,” suggesting that the eventual plan is to phase out ChromeOS and replace it with the new Android alternative.
The name is noteworthy too, if only for using the British spelling, ending in “-ium.” That might just be a nod to Chromium, the open-source code that underlies ChromeOS.
Google has been considering bringing some form of Android to PCs for over a decade, but has begun talking about the prospect more seriously in recent years. Android Authority reported that new plans were in the works last year, and Android head Sameer Samat has since confirmed that the company is “combining Chrome OS and Android into a single platform,” with plans to release it next year.