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The anticipation for the new wave of Chromebooks powered by Qualcomm’s powerful and efficient Snapdragon X Plus is incredibly high. We’ve been tracking the development of the main reference board for this new lineup—codenamed ‘Bluey’—for a while now, waiting for signs of the first real devices to begin emerging. Today, we’re excited to report that a new variant of ‘Bluey’ has just appeared. Say hello to ‘Quartz’.
Spotted in a series of recent code changes and commits, ‘Quartz’ is a new development board based on the ‘Bluey’ reference design. This means that another, unique Chromebook powered by the Snapdragon X Plus is officially in active development.
While details are scant at this early stage and we don’t yet know which manufacturer is behind ‘Quartz’ or what its form factor will be, the fact that it exists at all is the most important part of this story. Alongside ‘Quenbi’, this now makes two devices in development that will come housing the very-capable Snapdragon X Plus SoC.
The Snapdragon momentum is real and growing
The appearance of a new variant board is a fantastic sign. It shows that the initial push for the Snapdragon X Plus on ChromeOS won’t be a one-off effort from a single manufacturer. Instead, it’s clear that Qualcomm and multiple Chromebook makers are serious about bringing Snapdragon back to the ChromeOS ecosystem in a very big way.
More devices in development mean more competition, more variety, and more powerful, efficient, always-connected ARM-based options for consumers to choose from down the road. I’m hoping for big things from this future lineup of Chromebooks, and the arrival of ‘Quartz’ only reinforces that optimism. As always, we’ll be tracking the development of ‘Quartz’ and the entire ‘Bluey’ family very closely, so stay tuned.
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