Chrome development work has begun on a second Chromebook powered by one of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, under the dragon-related codename “Trogdor.”
After last week’s revelation that Google is “not pursuing” Intel’s Ice Lake processors for Chrome OS use, Chromebook’s near-future hardware development seemed to be stagnant. With competition heating up from AMD, MediaTek, and Qualcomm, Intel is fortunately not the only name in Chromebook hardware.
AMD worked with Google to market Ryzen-powered Chromebooks, building on the base of the first generation of AMD Chromebooks published earlier this year. Meanwhile, for years, MediaTek has incorporated their chips into Chrome OS systems, powering some of our favourite budget-friendly Chromebooks.
Qualcomm, for its part, has not yet formally joined the room of Chrome OS, as its Chromebook “Cheza” is still in development and has not made it available for marketing. The Chromebook of Cheza is planned to use the same Snapdragon 845 seen on most Android phones of the 2018 flagship. We’re now over halfway through 2019 and the Snapdragon 855 is run by Android flagships.
To suit the progress of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, it feels like Google is starting job on the next generation of Snapdragon Chromebook, codenamed “Trogdor.” In its present early state, the Trogdor Chromebook borrows most of its software from Cheza, but it’s not going to use the Snapdragon 845 obviously.
Which chip the Chromebook Trogdor will switch to is not yet evident, as Qualcomm has a few probable contestants in the Snapdragon line. It would be the simplest option to just bump a generation into the Snapdragon 855, or perhaps prepare for the 2020 flagship Snapdragon.
However, the chip that I’m sure most hopeful will reach Chrome OS is the 8cx Snapdragon, currently set to bring impressive performance to Windows10 sometime next year on ARM devices. This actually appears to be the more probable chance, as Qualcomm confirmed to India Today that if the market requested high quality, Snapdragon 8cx-powered Chromebooks would be regarded. With Chrome OS now supporting Linux applications in addition to its long-standing Android support, a high-performance Chromebook has never been more demanded.
In either case, as work only starts on this second Snapdragon Chromebook, it is unlikely that we will see Trogdor release at the very earliest until next year. Meanwhile, we’re going to keep watching it evolve to see what eventually lands Qualcomm chip.
