Google is quietly preparing to draw the curtain on Chromebooks, ending a 16-year experiment that reshaped low-cost computing in schools and offices, as newly revealed court filings, reported by Arstechnica, point to a full phase-out of ChromeOS by 2034.
The disclosure, buried in documents filed during the remedies phase of the U.S. government’s landmark antitrust case against Google, offers the clearest signal yet that the company has already decided the long-term fate of ChromeOS. While Chromebooks will continue to be supported for years, Google’s strategic focus has shifted decisively toward an Android-based PC platform known internally as Aluminium, which it expects to eventually replace ChromeOS across enterprise and education markets.
Chromebooks began modestly in 2010 with the Cr-48, a lightweight prototype laptop distributed for free to selected testers. At the time, Google was betting that the web browser could become the operating system. The idea was radical but timely: a cheap, secure device that relied almost entirely on cloud services, required minimal maintenance, and could be easily managed at scale. That proposition resonated strongly with schools, governments, and businesses looking to cut costs and simplify IT.
Over the next decade, Chromebooks became synonymous with classroom computing in the United States and several other markets, and a popular option for organizations that prioritized security and ease of deployment over flexibility. The platform also enjoyed a brief surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote learning and work drove demand for inexpensive laptops. Outside those moments, however, Chromebooks struggled to break into the mainstream consumer market or compete with Windows and macOS for power users.
The court filings now suggest that Google sees little future in trying to push ChromeOS beyond those narrow use cases. As part of its defense during the antitrust proceedings, Google was required to outline how its various operating systems would evolve, particularly as regulators scrutinized its control over search, browsers, and platforms. According to reporting by The Verge, those filings confirm that Google plans to sunset ChromeOS once its existing support obligations expire.
Google currently guarantees 10 years of support for Chromebooks, but the policy is tied to hardware platforms rather than individual devices. The most recent ChromeOS hardware platform launched in 2023, meaning Google must provide updates through 2033. The documents are explicit about what follows.
“The timeline to phase out ChromeOS is 2034,” one filing states.
That timeline aligns with Google’s plans for Aluminium. Sameer Samat, Google’s Android chief, previously told the court that the company was targeting a first release of Aluminium-based machines in 2026. The newer filings add that Google hopes to put early versions of Aluminium into the hands of trusted testers by late 2026, with a broader consumer rollout likely delayed until around 2028. Over time, Aluminium is expected to supplant ChromeOS entirely in enterprise and education, effectively putting Chromebooks “on the chopping block,” as the documents suggest.
The shift reflects a long-running tension inside Google between ChromeOS and Android. When ChromeOS launched, Android was still in its infancy, designed primarily for smartphones with limited ambitions beyond that form factor. ChromeOS, by contrast, was built with laptops in mind, even if its early capabilities were spartan. Initially, Chromebooks could barely function offline and did not support local applications at all.
As user expectations grew, Google gradually expanded ChromeOS. Android apps arrived, followed by Linux support, allowing developers to run more complex software. Google even attempted to bring PC gaming to Chromebooks through Steam, an effort it quietly abandoned. More recently, the company tried to rejuvenate interest with AI-branded features under the Chromebook Plus initiative, but those additions failed to meaningfully change the platform’s perception or market position.
Android, meanwhile, has grown into Google’s most important operating system, powering billions of devices worldwide. Yet it has consistently struggled on larger screens. Tablet modes, window management, and desktop-class productivity have remained weak spots. Aluminium is designed to address those shortcomings. It is described in the filings as a long-running internal project to re-architect Android for laptops and desktops, potentially transforming it into a more powerful and flexible computing platform.
What eventually launches may not resemble today’s phone-centric Android experience. While it will share core components, Aluminium is expected to be heavily modified for PC hardware, with better support for keyboards, large displays, multitasking, and high-performance workloads. When running on modern laptops, Google believes Android’s capabilities will far exceed what ChromeOS can offer.
There are also strategic and regulatory considerations at play. Under Aluminium, Google’s own apps, including Chrome and the Play Store, are expected to enjoy special system-level privileges, while third-party apps operate with more limited access. That structure gives Google greater control over the ecosystem and user experience, while also helping it navigate the constraints imposed by recent antitrust rulings. Notably, Judge Amit Mehta’s final order excluded devices running ChromeOS or a ChromeOS successor from certain remedies, a carve-out that required Google to clearly define what counts as a successor and how Aluminium fits into its broader platform strategy.
For schools, businesses, and governments that rely heavily on Chromebooks, the message is mixed. There is no immediate disruption, and Google has years of support commitments left to honor. However, the long-term direction is clear. ChromeOS is entering maintenance mode, and future investment will increasingly flow toward Android PCs.
For Google, the transition represents a consolidation of platforms after years of parallel development. Maintaining both ChromeOS and Android has grown increasingly redundant, particularly as Android becomes more capable and regulators scrutinise Google’s sprawling ecosystem. Folding ChromeOS into a broader Android strategy allows Google to focus resources on a single, scalable operating system, even if it means retiring a product that once symbolized its cloud-first vision.
Sixteen years after the Cr-48 hinted at a browser-centric future of computing, ChromeOS is approaching a quiet, managed exit. Its demise is not marked by a press release or keynote announcement, but by a line in a federal court filing, laying out a timeline that ends in 2034.
