Android already powers more than just phones, running on smartwatches, TVs, tablets, and several other devices. Some Chinese PC makers have even shipped Android-powered computers. But the form factor could soon get its biggest push yet, with Google confirming it’s working on a Snapdragon-powered Android desktop.
During the opening keynote of Snapdragon Summit 2025, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Google’s Rick Osterloh teased bringing Android to the desktop, with Qualcomm powering the experience.
Osterloh says that, so far, Google has had “very different systems between what we are building on PCs and what we are building on smartphones.” But now, the company has “embarked on a project to combine that,” building a common technical foundation for devices across different form factors, including PCs.
By using Android as the technical foundation, Google can “leverage all of the great work we’re doing together on our AI stack, our full stack, bringing Gemini models, bringing the assistant, bringing all of our applications and developer community into the PC domain,” notes Osterloh.
The Google executive is clearly about merging ChromeOS with Android, something which Sameer Samat, the President of the Android Ecosystem, confirmed earlier this year.
Following Osterloh’s remarks, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon added, “I’ve seen it. It’s incredible. It delivers on the vision of convergence between mobile and PC, and I cannot wait to have one.”
Android laptops to use Snapdragon chips
Current-gen Chromebooks are powered by Intel CPUs. But with Android being the technical foundation, it seems Google will lean on its long-term silicon partner Qualcomm instead.
Snapdragon chips have become increasingly powerful in recent years, with the Oryon CPU cores bringing a major leap in performance. And since they are built on Arm, Snapdragon chips should also deliver big efficiency gains, making them well-suited for Google’s Android desktop ambitions.
Osterloh openly teasing Android PCs suggests Google has made significant progress in this area. The new desktop mode, external display support, and better window management features in Android 16 further reinforce that.
