Exclusive: Google VP confirms ChromeOS isn’t going anywhere, and neither is 10-year support

Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down for a private AMA (Ask Me Anything) with John Maletis, VP of Product Management for ChromeOS at Google. We opened this session up exclusively to our Chrome Unboxed Plus community, giving them the opportunity to ask John any and all questions about Chromebooks and the future of the platform.

And the timing couldn’t have been better. With Google’s recent announcement that ChromeOS will be migrating to the Android stack (codenamed “Aluminium OS”), there has been a lot of speculation. Is ChromeOS going away? Is this the beginning of the end? Is Google preparing to send Chromebooks to the infamous “Google Graveyard”?

During the call, John addressed these fears head-on, and his message was crystal clear: Google is not giving up on ChromeOS.

Addressing the “Google Graveyard” rumors

Let’s be honest, Google has a reputation for killing off products. When news broke that ChromeOS would be adopting the Android tech stack, many users worried that this was a sign of the platform being sunsetted.

When we asked about the future of the platform and if it’s a good time to buy a Chromebook, Maletis was direct about the speculation he sees online.

I’ve seen speculation in the press around us giving up on Chromebooks and that is so far from the case…I know that there have been memes around Google’s commitment to products in the past… that is not the case [here].

He went on to explain that the scale of ChromeOS makes “quitting” impossible, even if they wanted to (which they don’t).

We’ve got millions and millions of students, of consumers, of employees at work who are heavily reliant upon what we’ve done with Chromebooks. And so continuity of experience and devices, not to mention business continuity, is really important.

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The 10-Year support promise stands firm

The other major concern regarding the migration to the Android stack is software support. A few years ago, Google made a massive commitment to support Chromebooks for 10 years of automatic updates. But with the underlying OS changing, does that promise still hold water for the Chromebook you bought yesterday?

Maletis assured us that the transition to the Android stack does not change that timeline.

A few years ago, we extended our support commitment for Chromebooks from 7 years to 10 years. And that’s a very, very, very important thing to us… So as we’re going through this evolution, we are maintaining that commitment of 10 years of support of these devices from when the platform launches.

It means that even as Google works on this massive under-the-hood renovation, they are not walking away from the current hardware.

Will current devices get the new OS?

Finally, Maletis touched on a question we’ve all been wondering: Will existing Chromebooks be updated to the new Android-based stack, or will they stay on the current version of ChromeOS? The answer is: It depends.

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.

He reiterated that regardless of whether a device migrates to the new stack or stays on the current one, the support window remains the same.

We are maintaining our support commitment, and where possible, whenever we can with product truth, we will allow migrations.

The future is bright

While the technical details of the migration are complex, the takeaway from our conversation with John was overwhelmingly positive. This isn’t a funeral for ChromeOS; it’s an evolution. Google is modernizing the foundation to make development faster and AI integration easier, but the commitment to the users—and the 10-year lifespan of their current devices—isn’t changing.

As John put it: “The future’s looking bright.”