Google may be planning to bring Android and Chrome OS closer together, but the company has no plans to "phase out Chrome OS," according to a new statement from Google's head of Chrome OS and Android.
Days after a report suggesting Google has plans to replace Chrome OS with a new Android-based operating system, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's SVP of Chrome OS, Android and Chromecast, is attempting to clarify the "confusion" around the company's position.
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"Over the last few days, there’s been some confusion about the future of Chrome OS and Chromebooks based on speculation that Chrome OS will be folded into Android," Lockheimer wrote in Google's Chromecast blog Monday. "While we’ve been working on ways to bring together the best of both operating systems, there's no plan to phase out Chrome OS."
Google plans to introduce a new Android-based operating system in 2016 that will run on Chromebooks and PCs, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Chromebooks would be rebranded with a new, so far undetermined, name, according to the report.
Lockheimer responded later that day, saying "we are very committed to Chrome OS."
There’s a ton of momentum for Chromebooks and we are very committed to Chrome OS. I just bought two for my kids for schoolwork!— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) October 30, 2015
Lockheimer didn't elaborate on how Google plans to bring Android and Chrome OS closer together, but many onlookers have long suspected Google would eventually merge the two operating systems. Putting Android apps on Chromebooks and showing off a new Android tablet made by the team behind the company's flagship Pixel Chromebook would certainly suggest the company is moving in that direction.
A report in Re/code said that Google is indeed working on a new version of Android for Chromebooks and laptops, but also said the company will continue to offer Chrome OS. Instead, manufacturers will be able to choose between Chrome OS and the new Android operating system.