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Samsung forgets about Chrome OS, advertises Chromebooks ‘Powered by Android’

Since Chromebooks first hit the scene, Samsung has had options available. The Samsung Series 3 Chromebook was one of the most popular Chromebooks ever, but in the time since Samsung’s Chromebooks have faded into the background a bit with the focus shifted to options from HP, ASUS, Acer, and many others. With Android apps on the horizon, it seems that Samsung is finally pushing its Chromebook lineup yet again, but it might be doing that in the wrong way…

On its official website, Samsung is currently advertising its 8 Chromebook models on a dedicated page. According to Chrome Unboxed, this page has only been live for about a month and while it’s great to see Samsung pushing Chromebooks again, the phrase at the top of this page is a bit misleading, to say the least.

In large text on top of the page, Samsung touts its Chromebooks as being “Powered by Android,” which they are not. Rather, those Chromebooks run what every other Chromebook does; Chrome OS. Of course, Android apps are coming to Chrome OS, and already available on some machines (not Samsung’s), but stating that Chromebooks are “Powered by Android” is very misleading to the consumer. Even worse, most of the Chromebooks listed on that page won’t even get Android apps.

On the other hand, this may indicate that Samsung’s Chromebooks could be next on the list to gain access to Android apps. Google has already confirmed that the Samsung Chromebook 2 11-inch (Xe500C12) and the Chromebook 3 series will have access to Android apps sometime in 2016/2017, although no specific timeframe was given.

For now, we can only wait and see what happens. As Android apps hit more Chromebooks, we’ll be excited to see how manufacturers advertise that feature and how consumers react to it, but at least for the time being, Samsung really ought to take that banner down…

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