Leak reveals “ALOS” Aluminium OS desktop UI, split-screen, and desktop-style Chrome
Google has apparently leaked the new system, and not just in a picture, but in a video showing how a few apps on the system work. The leak comes from a public bug report on Google’s Chromium Issue Tracker that briefly exposed what looks like Android’s upcoming desktop-style interface, complete with screen recordings. The report has since been locked down, but the footage was preserved.
The most important detail, the recordings appear to show “ALOS” (short for Aluminium OS) running on an HP Elite Dragonfly 13.5 Chromebook, identified as “Brya (Redrix),” with a 12th Gen Intel Core (Alder Lake-U ) platform. The build string shown in the report is ZL1A.260119.001.A1, and another on-screen reference points to Android 16.
Source: Google
Visually, the biggest change from ChromeOS is a taller top status bar that looks designed for large screens. The bar shows the time including seconds, the date, and a row of system icons such as Wi-Fi, battery, and a notification indicator, alongside a Gemini icon and a screen recording pill.
At the bottom, the taskbar looks close to what Android’s large-screen mode already uses, while the pointer is slightly tweaked compared to standard Android. Window controls also look closer to ChromeOS conventions, with minimize, fullscreen, and close buttons at the top-right of each window.
There’s an Extensions button appears in the toolbar, which is typically associated with desktop Chrome rather than Android’s browser UI. The clips also show split-screen multitasking with two Chrome windows side-by-side, plus the Play Store running on the same system.
The leak basically confirms earlier reporting that Google is building “Aluminium OS” as a longer-term merge of Android and ChromeOS, with limited public details so far and signs that Google is using existing Chromebook hardware during development.
A broader launch window has been discussed as part of Google’s “Android for PCs” push, with 2026 often mentioned in prior coverage, and while the bug report does not confirm timing, the Android 16 references suggest the desktop interface is far enough along for real workflow testing. This also comes as the Windows on Arm market keeps expanding, led by Qualcomm and potentially soon NVIDIA.
Source: Android Authority , 9to5google , The Verge
