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Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 may power future Chromebooks
- New commits in the Chromium repository suggest that Chromebooks powered by Qualcomm SoC may appear in future
- References to “chipset-qc845” are believed to relate specifically to Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 platform
- Qualcomm chipsets have also recently been found in Windows laptop systems
The Snapdragon 845 platform, Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit chipset, was revealed in Hawaii earlier in December. It’s built on Samsung’s 10nm LPP FinFET process technology and it’s is expected to power a number of 2018’s most powerful phones. A recent discovery in the Chromium repository suggests it may also power some of the next Chromebooks, too.
The Chromium repository is the codebase where the open source files and documentation for Chrome lives. It’s maintained by Google and aims to help third-parties create products for the Chrome OS. Yesterday, the folks over at XDA Developers spotted references to a new board overlay there, called “cheza,” for a reference device that would work alongside a chip known as “chipset-qc845.” This is believed to denote the Snapdragon 845, and it’s a moniker that appears several times throughout the repository, while Qualcomm is also specifically mentioned.
This would be the first Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Chromebook to hit the market, following speculation (which originated from Google employees) that Qualcomm wouldn’t be involved in the Chromebook market due to its reluctance to deliver long-term Chromebook support.
Things might have changed since those reports, however, as Qualcomm recently announced support for Windows laptop systems (the first of which were just seen earlier this month). These computers are said to come with up to 25-hour battery life and house LTE connectivity — features that would also go down well on Chromebooks.
Though the new Chromium commits don’t necessarily mean that a Snapdragon-powered Chromebook is in the works, it’s a firm indication; let us know if you’d be interested in such a product in the comments.