ASUS just might be building ‘Skywalker’ with the MediaTek MT8189 inside

As an upcoming Chromebook, ‘Skywalker’ has been incredibly difficult for me to decipher. Whereas we know quite a bit about a similar baseboard in ‘Rauru’ (with the MediaTek MT8196), we’ve found very little in the way of factual evidence about anything with regards to ‘Skywalker’ and the MT8189 inside it.

I’ve posited that this new SoC could be quite powerful based simply on the fact that MediaTek model number updates can pack quite a punch with only a single digit change. For instance, the performance and benchmark gains from the MT8195 to the MT8196 are startling, but from the model numbers alone, you wouldn’t expect such a jump.

Unlike what I’ve experienced with the new MT8196, however, I’ve not been able to actually find the CPU core types in the MT8189. This means I have no real idea of what we’re dealing with in ‘Skywalker’ for now. Expecting a generational jump over the MT8188 (the Kompanio 838 found in the new Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11″) is realistic, but far from proven fact.

Ties to ASUS

I did, however, manage to find at least a shred of evidence that this new device is being worked on by ASUS. I still think ‘Skywalker’ is a baseboard that will spawn other actual device boards down the road, but that initial work still needs to be done by a company looking to eventually build a new Chromebook of some sort. And, from the looks of the battery added to test on ‘Skywalker’, that company may just be ASUS.

As you can see from the code change above, a new battery is being added for ‘Skywalker’ and, after a little digging, we see it is the SMP C31N2005. A quick Google search for this battery model makes it clear that this is the same battery used by ASUS for the Chromebook CX9 a few years ago.

While not an absolute proof of ASUS’ involvement, here, there are tons of battery options developers can use when getting a new device off the ground. Selecting a battery that clearly belongs to a former device made by a specific manufacturer tends to point us in the right direction when asking who’s behind it.

Again, I want to stress that this isn’t definitive; but it is very interesting for sure. ASUS has made some fantastic Chromebooks over the years, and they’ve pushed boundaries with thinness/lightness as well. A sleek ASUS convertible with this new (hopefully powerful) MediaTek MT8189 inside could make for a very compelling device, but we’ll have to sit back and wait to see how this all develops. But don’t worry, ‘Skywalker’ is most definitely in my sights; and I’ll keep digging until I find something more definitive. Stay tuned.