It has long been rumored that Google is working on an operating system for feature phones. In March of this year, mentions of a special mode were found in the Ghromium Gerrit repository, which allows you to control the OS using buttons, and now new information has appeared.
The Gizchina resource has published a screenshot of the main page of the Chrome browser, which has been adapted for push-button phones. This required a change in interface, which makes it look like Android Oreo. However, there is no functional difference. It is not yet specified which models and when will receive this version of the OS. It is also not clear how functional it will be compared to Android.
However, it is clear that the company intends to compete with KaiOS, the operating system used on push-button devices. Considering its incredible popularity in India, where it has surpassed iOS and is already catching up with Android, this is quite a logical step. There the system is used by more than 40 million devices.
Recall that KaiOS was created as an alternative to Android One for cheap and simple dialers. This system is based on Linux and developments of the closed Firefox OS project. It is financed, including by Google, however, it seems that in Mountain View they want not only to participate in the process, but to manage it.
In addition to KaiOS and the above unnamed system, we can recall the universal Fuchsia system, which can android apps and on Chromebooks with AMD processors. And then there's the Aurora Finnish Sailfish, which is also based on the Linux code.
Source: 3dnews.ru