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Ever since Samsung surprised us with an update to the original Samsung Chromebook Plus, we’ve been speculating that we’ll also see a refresh of the original Pro before the end of the year. With the way new boards are leveraged for multiple OEM devices these days, pinpointing new devices from the Chromium Repositories isn’t quite as easy as it used to be, so we really don’t have a ton of info on what Samsung is doing here apart from this WIFI Alliance certification.
In the certification first spotted by Kevin Tofel over at About Chromebooks, there are some pretty clear pieces of info that we can glean a few clues from. Here’s a screengrab of that page.
First up, it is nice and clear what model number we’re dealing with: XE525QBBI
We also know for sure it is a Chromebook due to the listing showing this device is running Chrome R69 which is slated for release in about a week to the general public. Another straightforward fact is the dual-band a/b/g/n WIFI.
Other than those things, we don’t know much more about this mystery device.
What We Might Infer
Let’s look at previous model numbers for Samsung Chromebooks, shall we? All of them follow a similar pattern: XE5#####. In all the variations of a particular device, these first numbers don’t shift. Instead, extra info is added after the dash to differentiate modification to the main device.
Now, let’s look at the original Pro and Plus model numbers: Pro – XE510C24 | Plus – XE513C24
Those are pretty similar, right? Even when Samsung released the random backlit keyboard variant, the model number stayed the same.
Let us now look at the model numbers of the new V2 Plus and this mystery device: Plus V2 – XE521QAB | New Device – XE525QBBI
Again, very similar and in a pretty specific way. Most other Samsung Chromebooks have a model number starting with XE5 followed by 2 numbers, a letter, and two more numbers. Have a look at their current Chromebook lineup and you’ll see what I mean. This new device follows the model numbering of the new Plus by using the XE5 followed by 2 numbers and 3 letters.
Because of all this, I really don’t think this is simply another variant of the new Plus V2. I think this is a similar baseboard in a new device. The clear assumption, then, is this being an updated Chromebook Pro. With the evidence of an additional upcoming LTE model being prepped, it is easy to connect the dots and assume this new device will be an upgraded Chromebook Pro with LTE on board from Samsung.
After all, the Nautilus board is capable of the higher-end Kabylake processors, so it stands to reason that we could see the same Core m3 processor the HP x2 is using in a new or updated hardware chassis from Samsung. I would hope Samsung keeps the better screen for this one, however, as the Samsung Chromebook Plus v2 is definitely a downgrade in terms of screen brightness and resolution.
We’ll likely know more soon as Samsung needs a more premium device to compete this holiday season. With HP, Acer, Lenovo, and Dell all upping their games for fall, Samsung and ASUS are currently the only major players without a solid, higher-end device currently on offer.
