Chrome OS is adding support for running Android 7.1.1 Nougat apps

Google is slowly allowing more Chromebooks, with Chrome OS installed, to run Android-based apps via the Google Play Store. This week, it was revealed that the current Chrome OS build from Google’s experimental Canary channel has added support for running Android apps based on the latest Nougat version, 7.1.1.

At the moment, some Chromebooks that use Chrome OS 55, the current stable version of the operating system, can run apps that support Android 6.0 Marshmallow. However, it would appear that some Chromebooks that have downloaded the Chrome OS 57 build in the Canary channel can now support Android 7.1.1 Nougat for running apps as well. So far, only a handful of current Chromebooks can run Android apps on the stable channel, including the ASUS Chromebook Flip, Chromebook Pixel (2015) and the Acer Chromebook R11.

During CES 2017, Samsung announced its new Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro convertible notebooks. Both of them will be able to download and run Android apps out of the box from the Google Play Store, although that feature will be labeled as being in “beta” for the time being.  The Samsung Chromebook Plus, with its ARM-based hexa-core OP1 chip, will go on sale in February for a price of $449. The Chromebook Pro, with its Intel Core m3 processor, will launch sometime later this spring with a price to be announced.