Google says some Googlebooks have better Android app support than others, and here's why

The first Googlebooks have finally launched, promising a hybrid Android/ChromeOS foundation and premium hardware. Google also previously promised that your favorite apps would work on these new laptops. However, it looks like Android app support is a little more complicated than Google first claimed.

Virtually all Android apps are made with the smartphone-based Arm architecture in mind rather than the x86 architecture. However, three out of the five Googlebooks at launch have x86-based Intel chips. This made us wonder whether Intel-powered Googlebooks would have app compatibility issues.

Google told Android Authority that Intel-based Googlebooks might have issues with some Android apps:

The vast majority of Android apps run smoothly across both Intel and Qualcomm Googlebooks right out of the box.

Because many Android apps were originally designed for Arm chips, a small handful of complex apps or games need some developer tuning to run their best on Intel-based platforms. We’re working hand-in-hand with app developers, Intel, and Qualcomm to continuously optimize performance and expand compatibility across the entire portfolio.

In other words, Googlebooks with Intel processors could have performance or compatibility problems in some Android apps compared to Qualcomm-powered devices. Google didn’t mention any specific problem apps, though.

Nevertheless, this statement comes after a couple of noteworthy claims by Google regarding Android apps on Googlebooks. The company previously said during a media briefing that the Play Store offers a curated section of optimized Googlebook apps, but that unoptimized apps can still be downloaded via the Play Store. Googler Dieter Bohn also claimed in a social media video that “you’ve got the entire Play Store library on Googlebooks.” The company clearly didn’t mention issues with some apps on Intel devices until now.

Google is clearly confident that the overwhelming majority of apps will run just fine on Intel-powered laptops, though. Still, I’d hate to be the person who bought a Googlebook, only to find out that one or more of their favorite apps have issues.

We’ve asked Google to further clarify Android app support on Googlebooks and will update our article as soon as the company gets back to us with an answer. We’ll also be getting an Intel-powered Googlebook for review, so we’ll be testing app compatibility as part of our coverage.