MediaTek has a new high-end ARM chip coming for Chromebooks

Well, well, well: I did not expect to find this little nugget this morning. I was actually doing a little research on a device that I can’t believe didn’t have a longer, more-prosperous run in the Acer Chromebook Spin 513. That device, powered by the MediaTek Kompanio 1380, was the only one of its kind and vanished as quickly as it debuted.

That was a lovely Chromebook and the last one from Acer to keep with the 3:2 screen size everyone loved so much in the prior Spin 713 lineup. We still have the Spin 513 around and each time I crack it open, I’m a bit baffled as to why it was so quickly shelved. There was so much to like about it and it had all the performance you could ask for in an ARM-powered Chromebook.

Alas, I didn’t find any answers to that question. But I did begin wondering if MediaTek might be working on more than just the upcoming Kompanio 838 (code name MT8188) for more ARM-powered devices down the road. And it hit me that their code names are all in a very small numeric range; so why not run a search for others? It wouldn’t take too long since you you have the MT8173 at the low end and it goes up to the MT8195 at the high end. Or so I thought.

My first attempt struck paydirt, and a quick search for MT8196 brought up a handful of commits from just the past couple months. I’m sure there’s much more to learn as I get the time to dig a bit deeper, but just based on the model name, I’d say we’re looking at a generational upgrade from the powerful, capable MT8195 that powered the Acer Spin 513 so well.

While I’d expect the Kompanio 838 (MT8188) to arrive later this year in the first of what hopefully becomes a new line of Chromebook Plus tablets, I’d wager the MT8196 might not arrive until the spring Chromebook event – assuming Google sticks with this fall/spring release schedule we’re now settling into. For now, however, that’s about all we know, and you can bet I’ll be digging deep to figure out what we’re dealing with in the MT8196 in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.