Google's Aluminium OS represents a genuine technology inflection—ending nearly two decades of Android tablet dysfunction and ChromeOS limitations by merging them into a unified architecture for PCs and tablets. But court documents obtained by The Verge reveal a different kind of inflection: the moment regulatory constraints begin complicating technology deployment. A 2028 full commercial release—not 2026—signals that antitrust litigation isn't just scrutiny; it's infrastructure.

Google just crossed a threshold that matters far more than the hardware itself. The company announced Aluminium OS—a genuine consolidation of Android and ChromeOS into unified architecture for PCs and tablets—but court documents obtained by The Verge reveal what makes this inflection point real: a 2028 commercial release, not 2026. That's not a slip. That's regulatory pressure becoming infrastructure.

Sameer Samat, Google's Android head, told investors last September the OS was coming "next year." But transcripts from the US v. Google antitrust case show him hedging in August 2025: "We hope so. We're working hard on it." Google's own court filings are more explicit. The "fastest path" to market shows commercial testing in late 2026, but enterprise and education sectors don't get Aluminium until 2028. That's a 24-month gap between when enthusiasts might touch it and when the actual market deployment happens.

The hardware is real. Lenovo is building Ruby, an Intel Panther Lake flagship, and Sapphire, a high-end tablet. The architecture works—Android's driver ecosystem, ChromeOS's security model, unified codebase. This solves a decade-old problem: Android tablets have always been oversized phones, and ChromeOS devices always felt neutered compared to Windows. Aluminium theoretically fixes both.

But here's what The Verge uncovered that changes the timing calculus: Judge Amit Mehta's antitrust ruling explicitly exempts ChromeOS and its successors—meaning Aluminium—from the self-preferencing bans that now restrict Google's deals with Android phone makers. In plain English: Google can cut exclusive deals with Lenovo that make Chrome the locked-in default on Aluminium devices, force Google Play Store integration, and subordinate competing browsers and app stores. On phones, that's illegal. On Aluminium laptops? The judgment says "devices on which the ChromeOS operating system or a successor to the ChromeOS operating system is installed" simply don't count.

This is the inflection within the inflection. Google's lawyers used the timeline defense in court—essentially arguing "Aluminium won't scale fast enough to threaten competition, so why force us to divest Chrome?" And the judge agreed. Google walks out of antitrust court with permission to build exactly what it wants, on Aluminium devices, without restriction.

The timing implications scatter across different audiences. For enterprise buyers—the 10,000-person IT departments that deploy Chromebooks in schools and offices—the window just shrunk. Google commits to 10 years of support on existing ChromeOS devices. John Maletis, the ChromeOS head, confirmed not all existing devices can migrate to Aluminium due to "technical specifications." Translation: new Chromebooks bought in 2024-2025 might never see Aluminium. They'll get ChromeOS updates through 2034, but that's maintenance, not migration. Your 2025 purchase might be stuck on a legacy OS for nine more years.

There's also the Epic Games v. Google angle. Epic's settlement with Google restricts Play Store injunctions to devices running "the Android operating system." If Aluminium is technically a different OS—Aluminium, not Android—the settlement loophole exempts it from the mandatory third-party app store access that phones must support. Google could build a PC platform with Play Store monopoly intact.

The regulatory exemption is where this becomes a timing inflection for everyone. Google signals 2028 to courts, but that timeline only holds if Aluminium doesn't trigger new antitrust challenges. If Epic's settlement doesn't cover it. If regulators don't revisit the Mehta ruling. The window Google got isn't closure; it's a narrow corridor that closes if Aluminium succeeds too fast.

Forget 2026. Watch 2028. That's when the real test begins—when enterprise buyers actually have to choose between locked-in Aluminium or aging ChromeOS. That's when Epic could revisit whether Aluminium is just Android with a different name. That's when regulators might realize the loophole they permitted. For builders betting on this platform, understand: you have 18 months of runway before regulatory scrutiny tightens again.

Google's Aluminium consolidation represents a genuine platform unification—solving real Android tablet and ChromeOS limitations. But the regulatory exemption Judge Mehta granted is the real inflection. Enterprise decision-makers face a 2028 deployment window clouded by Chrome lock-in risk and uncertain Epic Games settlement scope. Builders should understand that permission to proceed doesn't mean clear runway; regulators left a window open, but they're watching. The next 18 months determine whether this is architecture or regulatory arbitrage.