Sources: Google planning to launch an ultra-thin convertible laptop, nicknamed Pixel 3 running combined Android-Chrome OS “Andromeda” in Q3 '17 starting at $799
Two independent and reliable sources have confirmed to us that Google is planning a new Pixel laptop to be released in Q3 2017.
Context & Ripple Effects
The rumored 'Andromeda' Pixel 3 sits between two data points in Google's hardware arc: the $999/$1,299 Chromebook Pixel refresh of 2015 that repositioned the line below the four-figure mark, and the fall 2017 launch window where sources later pointed to a new Pixel-branded Chromebook rather than an Android-Chrome hybrid. A $799 starting price would undercut even that 2015 floor while folding a tablet into the laptop.
What makes the report durable is that the merger it describes kept resurfacing in different forms: the device that actually leaked weeks before launch was the Pixelbook, a Chrome OS convertible with pen support, not an Andromeda machine — and seven years on, Google is reportedly working to fully migrate Chrome OS into Android to compete with the iPad. The 2016 rumor reads today as the first public articulation of a convergence Google has pursued by other means.
First-order effects
- A $799 ultra-thin convertible would reset the Pixel line's entry price below the 2015 Chromebook Pixel's $999 Core i5 tier, putting a premium Google-branded 2-in-1 within reach of mainstream Chromebook buyers.
- Shipping combined Android-Chrome OS would give the Pixel 3 access to Android apps on day one — the capability gap the later Pixel Slate and Pixelbook had to paper over from the Chrome OS side.
Second-order effects
- If Andromeda had shipped as described, Google's own Pixel-branded Chromebook plans for fall 2017 would have competed with it, forcing Google to choose which OS story its premium hardware tells — a tension visible in how the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate launches played out instead.
- An Android-based laptop would have pulled Chromebook hardware partners onto Android's app ecosystem, pressuring them to follow Google's OS direction or differentiate on price alone.
Third-order effects
- The pattern across the coverage — merged-OS rumor, Chrome OS convertibles, then a reported multi-year project to fold Chrome OS into Android entirely — points toward Google consolidating on a single operating system across phones, tablets, and laptops, with Android as the survivor rather than a true hybrid.
- For the PC market, that trajectory implies Google's laptop ambitions ultimately hinge on Android's developer base rather than Chrome OS's web-first model, reshaping what 'Chromebook' means for buyers and schools over time.
The trend: Google has spent a decade converging Android and Chrome OS into one platform, first via hybrid hardware rumors like Andromeda and now via a reported full migration of Chrome OS into Android.