Google VP says existing Chromebooks may upgrade to Android ‘stack,’ ChromeOS support will continue

Ben Schoon | Jan 15 2026 - 8:20 am PT

The future of ChromeOS is a bit messy at the moment, with Google’s exact plans for the future of Chromebooks and a new Android base being somewhat of a mystery. In a new interview, though, a Google VP offers a bit of information around future support for ChromeOS as we know it today, as well as what owners can expect in regards to whether or not they’ll be able upgrade.

While Google has not abandoned ChromeOS by any means, the looming “AluminiumOS” project lurks in the background. The supposed reworking of ChromeOS to be based on Android has been in development for some time, and it brings a lot of questions along with it.

Among those are how existing Chromebooks will fare in this new future, and a new interview between Google VP John Maletis and ChromeUnboxed provides some answers.

Maletis, VP of Product Management for ChromeOS at Google for the past four years, says directly that ChromeOS, and existing Chromebooks, won’t be abandoned, acknowledging the “millions and millions of students, of consumers, of employees at work who are heavily reliant upon what we’ve done with Chromebooks.” This includes “maintaining that commitment of 10 years of support of these devices from when the platform launches.” So, in short, Google will continue software support for existing Chromebooks on ChromeOS for the 10-year period promised, a commitment that was first made in 2023.

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As far as the new Android base goes, Maletis says that the “new stack” won’t be compatible with all existing Chromebooks, but “a lot of the newer devices” will be able to “migrate over” to whatever Google has in store.

In terms of devices being able to migrate over to the new stack, not all devices will be able to just because there are technical specifications…But a lot of the newer devices, we will be working on an ability for customers to migrate over… We are maintaining our support commitment, and where possible, whenever we can with product truth, we will allow migrations.

Again, it’s all pretty unclear what this will all look like, and what the new platform as a whole will even be – needless to say, there are still a lot of questions – but it’s good to know that not only is Google looking at keeping support for existing Chromebooks going, but even offering some the ability to upgrade.