It appears that the war between portables is on and Intel’s not invited anymore. After Microsoft and Qualcomm debuted the Windows on ARM platform and associated laptops, now Google and partners may be ready to put Snapdragon CPUs on Chromebooks. Proof has already popped up.
2018 is the year when the first Windows laptops with Snapdragon CPUs will be available and now XDA Developers reports that recent code commits from Chrome OS point in the same direction. We’re talking about a newer CPU, the Snapdragon 845, which was mentioned in the code. Of course, Chrome OS code commits don’t mean much, since they can also be associated with test machines or prototypes.
At least this shows that at some point one such device was in the making. PC makers have already been using ARM-based CPUs on Chromebooks, so this isn’t much of a surprise. Rockchip and MediaTek chips come to mind, plus Samsung ones, but Qualcomm is a whole different ball game. Their chips are more expensive and more powerful, plus they offer crazy good battery life.
Snapdragon 845 actually debuted recently and it should take months for it to ship. If it makes to laptops indeed, expect the smartphone production to be hampered a bit. After all, the likes of LG, Samsung and Xiaomi are all waiting for it.
