It’s weird that we’re not seeing more MediaTek Kompanio Ultra Chromebooks yet

After spending a good amount of time with the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, I’m more convinced than ever: the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra is one of the best processors to ever grace a Chromebook. It’s wildly powerful, incredibly efficient, and has the AI smarts to carry ChromeOS into the future. It’s the chip that finally delivers on the promise of a high-performance ARM-based Chromebook with no major compromises, enabling thin, light, and completely fanless designs.

It is, in every sense of the phrase, a perfect fit for ChromeOS. So, with a chip this good, you’d expect to see a flood of new devices in the pipeline from every major manufacturer, right? Well, that’s what makes the current situation so strange: there aren’t really any more on the way – save one.

A tale of two MediaTek chips

As it stands today, the phenomenal Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (codename ‘Navi’) is the only device you can buy with the Kompanio Ultra inside. And when we look at the development pipeline for what’s next, we’re only tracking one other known board based on this chip: a device codenamed ‘Hylia’. That’s it. One on the market, one on the way.

Now, let’s contrast that with the situation for the upcoming, likely more mid-range, MediaTek MT8189 chip. For that SoC, we’re tracking the ‘Skywalker’ baseboard and its staggering family of eight (and counting!) unique offshoot devices. The pipeline for new Intel-powered Chromebooks is similarly flush with devices in the works at all times. However, for what is arguably the most exciting ARM chip available for ChromeOS right now, the development front is eerily quiet.

The perfect chip with few takers

This leads to the big, puzzling question: why? Why aren’t more manufacturers lining up to build a premium Chromebook around this fantastic processor? The Kompanio Ultra is a proven winner. It provides the blueprint for a thin, silent, all-day-battery-life laptop that doesn’t sacrifice an ounce of performance. It seems like a guaranteed home run.

While we have no inside info on the matter, we can only speculate. Is the chip more expensive than we think, pushing devices into a price tier that makes manufacturers nervous? Is there some sort of timed exclusivity deal with Lenovo? Or are OEMs simply more comfortable and familiar with using Intel’s chips for their higher-end devices?

Whatever the reason, the situation is baffling. We have what is arguably one of the best all-around chips ever made for a Chromebook, yet the development pipeline for it is a ghost town compared to its siblings. I’m still holding out hope that ‘Hylia’ is just the first of many more Kompanio Ultra devices to come and that what we’re seeing now is just a temporary anomaly.

The blueprint for an incredible, no-compromise ARM Chromebook is here and has been proven in the real world. We’re just waiting for more companies to use it.