Earlier this month, Qualcomm unveiled its next-generation processor for the upcoming wave of flagship smartphones, while also showcasing how Snapdragon can power all-day cellular-connected Windows laptops. A new report today suggests that Chromebooks could one day be powered by the Snapdragon 845 processor.
Spotted in the Chromium repository (via XDA-Developers) are various references to “chipset-qc845,” with the generic board for that chip codenamed “cheza.” Meanwhile, the existing ARM-powered Samsung Chromebook Plus is also referenced in the comments.
Since Chrome OS’s early days, there have only been a handful of devices that used an ARM chipset. The majority of Chromebooks have been Intel-powered, though there has been an uptick in the past year. Acer’s Chromebook R13 uses a MediaTek processor, while the aforementioned Chromebook Plus uses the hexa-core OP1 processor made by Rockchip, but to guidelines and standards set forth by Google.
One reason why chips from the major ARM vendor have not been used with Chrome OS in the past is due to Qualcomm’s two years of driver support. As explained by two ex-Googlers last year, this jives with the five years of software updates that Chrome OS devices usually strive for.
Hopefully, Qualcomm’s recent work on Windows laptops with all-day battery life and LTE connectivity is a sign of things to come for Google.
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