Android 7.1 is being developed for Chrome OS

Google started rolling out support for Google Play Store and Android apps to select Chromebooks in 2016. Now Google is said to be working on a new Chrome OS update that will make it easier to view and interact with multiple apps simultaneously.

Earlier this week, Chrome Unboxed shared some picture of a pre-release version of Chrome OS featuring Android 7.1.1 integration. It is being tested on the ChromeOS canary channel, and should be out on the stable channel by the end of this month. Previously Chromebook's Android subsystem was based on Android 6.0.

One of main highlight of Android Nougat was multi-tasking capabilities and support for free form windows. Now this feature will extend and improve ChromeOS's split screen mode. This means, now apart from viewing two Android apps side-by-side in split screen mode, users will also be able to launch multiple Android apps in their own windows, as well as resize them.

Moreover, with Android Nougat's multi-tasking feature on Chrome OS, multiple Android apps can also run in the background even when they're not in focus or use.

This is similar to what is found on Android based Remix OS which is designed to run on PC and laptops. With the addition of multi-tasking capability, ChromeOS is taking one step further to compete with Windows and macOS. 

Via