Google has confirmed that Chromebooks will continue to get 10 years of OS updates.
Some Chromebooks will also be eligible to move over to the Googlebook experience, but it's not clear what models will qualify.
Google has just announced Googlebook, designed as a new category of premium laptops built on the intelligence that Gemini has brought to Android. But the company has also confirmed that support for Chromebooks remains in place.
Chromebooks have been something of a breakthrough in the affordable segment of the laptop market, great for basic computing tasks and avoiding the expense and complication of a full laptop OS.
That's made them popular with educational institutions, for example, the very same budget-limited places that might be concerned that they've invested in obsolete hardware.
There's no need to worry though: Google has come forward to confirm that ChromeOS will continue to get 10 years of automatic updates, despite the evolution of Googlebook.
For those with a large fleet of Chromebooks, these can still be managed by the Google Admin console.
Finally, Google has also confirmed that it's going to be facilitating the move over to the "new experience" that comes with Googlebook, which integrates Gemini Intelligence to make for a smarter computing experience.
So, while those with an existing Chromebook will continue to enjoy that experience, fully supported, some will move to something newer and smarter.
At the moment it's not clear which models will move to the Googlebook experience, but I don't think it would be too much of a surprise if it includes models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo, the very same brands name-dropped in the Googlebook announcement.
At the Googlebook announcement – part of The Android Show – Google showed off new powers that will come through the OS, including some really clever Gemini-powered skills.
The platform leans on Gemini Intelligence to join the dots, while working to seamlessly integrate Android, allowing instant access to your Android device.
The launch window for Googlebook is later in 2026, when those brands above are expected to release commercial devices, but there are still a few unanswered questions, like what the OS is actually called, and if Google will have its own model, something it has done in the past with Pixelbook, Chromebook Pixel and Pixel C.
What will be next? The Pixel Googlebook?
