- We got Google’s Chrome OS up and running alongside Android on a Pixel phone.
- This is possible thanks to a special build of Chromium OS — the open-source version of Chrome OS — made for running in a virtual machine.
- It’s not clear whether Google plans to release this to the public.
Earlier today, we broke the news that Google got Chrome OS running on a Pixel phone. The company created a special build of Chromium OS — the open-source version of Chrome OS — that’s designed to run in a virtual machine. A demo of this project, known internally as “ferrochrome,” was privately shown off to other companies at a recent Google event. With a bit of effort, we managed to compile and run our own build of “ferrochrome” on an Android phone. In the video embedded above, you can get a first look at Chrome OS running in a VM on a Pixel phone.
You’ll notice in the video that the phone I chose for this demo is my Pixel 7 Pro, Google’s flagship phone for 2022. This also could’ve worked on any other Tensor-powered Pixel device, and in fact, my first choice for this demo was my Pixel 8 Pro. Unfortunately, even though the Chromium OS build we compiled successfully booted up on my Pixel 8 Pro, there was a bug preventing it from getting into the setup wizard. The reason I wanted to demo this on my Pixel 8 Pro in particular is because it’s the only phone I have in the Pixel lineup that supports display output. Alas, since we couldn’t get this immediately working on my Pixel 8 Pro, we settled on demoing “ferrochrome” on my Pixel 7 Pro instead.