Google has announced that it is planning to 'fold' the web-based Chrome Operating System into its mobile Android Platform in order to create a single operating system.
Google plans to unveil the combined operating system in 2017 but will release an early version next year.
Wall Street Journal reported that the engineers of Google have recently made progress after two years of working to combine the two different operating systems.
Chrome OS powers laptops known as Chromebooks. Chrome OS is the result of Google's effort to bring the Web and browser-centric experience to more devices, encouraging users to access all software and apps through its Chrome browser on cheap, stripped-down laptops.
Android on the other hand, is the leading operating system being used. It powers more than one billion phones and other devices made by dozens of companies.
Google hopes to get Android running on as many devices as possible to reach as many people as possible. At present, Android runs on phones, tablets, watches, TVs and car infotainment systems. The 'folding' of Chrome OS into Android will add laptops on the list and can increase Android's user base considerably.
Despite the incorporation of Chrome OS into Android, Chrome will retain its name for its Internet browser, which runs on both PCs and mobile devices, but Chromebook on the other hand will have a change of name.
The main focus of Google in combining the two operating systems is to extend Android to run on laptops.
"Mobile as a computing paradigm is eventually going to blend with what we think of as desktop today," Google Chief Executive, Sundar Pichai, told an analyst through a call last week.
Alex Davis, an engineering manager who works on app development at home-sharing service Airbnb, said that developers don't have a strong interest on Chrome OS due to the relatively small market size of the operating system. He also added that switching to Android is "probably the right move for Google because Android is so ubiquitous and so many people are used to using it."
