Flutter is an open-source SDK developed by Google that allows building high-performance mobile apps for both Android and iOS from a single codebase. It uses its own rendering engine instead of webviews or native widgets, and has a thin C/C++ layer with most code implemented in Dart. Flutter supports hot reload which allows code changes to take effect instantly without losing app state. It is optimized for building 2D apps and supports features like camera, geolocation, and third-party SDKs.