Confirmed: Google's Fuchsia OS to Run Android Apps

We last saw screens and rumors about Fuchsia, Google's next operating system about a year ago. And while some speculated that Fuchsia would be a merger of Android and Chrome OS, we're finally seeing some evidence to that reality.

The Pixel Slate, Complete with Emulation-based Google Apps

The folks at 9to5Google have discovered a change in Android's source code, posted yesterday (Jan. 2) that spells it out in not-so-simple coder-speak.

Specifically, a readme file posted says "These targets are used to build ART for Fuchsia. They differ from usual Android devices as they do not target specific hardware. They will produce a fuchsia package (.far file)." If you're not an Android developer, that translates to Fuchsia getting its own equivalent of Android Runtime, which it will need to run Android apps.

Beyond that, though, Fuchsia's merging of Google OS's has yet to come into focus, and it's hard to tell how this implementation will differ from Chrome OS's. The only published screens don't even show a Chrome logo, instead providing the visual cues of Google Assistant and Search.

We hope to learn more about the Fuchsia project as 2019 marches on. Right now, Chrome OS seems to be experiencing some growing pains – at least in tablet mode, and a new operating system, specifically built with the intent to offer Chrome and Android, might be the perfect next move.