Qualcomm confirms a Snapdragon-powered Googlebook will launch this fall

For months, we have been closely tracking the development of new Qualcomm processors in the Chromium Gerrit, but it wasn’t entirely clear when we would actually see them hit the market. With Googlebook officially slated for a fall release, the big question was whether Qualcomm would be ready for day one, or if they would arrive in a later wave of devices. Thanks to a new teaser on Instagram, we have a pretty definitive answer.

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In a new Instagram post, the official Qualcomm account explicitly confirmed its involvement in the upcoming launch. The post features a crossword puzzle graphic and a caption that leaves no room for speculation:

Introducing Googlebook – we’re partnering with @Google on powerful, premium devices built for intelligence. This fall, everything changes.

This is massive news for the ecosystem. We haven’t had a new Qualcomm-powered device in this space in quite some time, and their return alongside the launch of a premium, Gemini-first hardware category is the perfect timing for a resurgence.

‘Bluey’, ‘Calypso’, and the hardware pipeline

The reason for our initial uncertainty regarding Qualcomm’s fall availability comes down to the multiple baseboards we’ve been tracking behind the scenes.

On one hand, we’ve been watching ‘Bluey’ and its related variants (‘Quenbi’, ‘Quartz’ and ‘Mica’) in development for a while now. These boards are built around the highly capable Snapdragon X Plus.

On the other hand, we recently uncovered ‘Calypso’ (and its reference board ‘Mensa’), which appears to be a newer project featuring a potentially much more powerful next-gen SoC. Because Calypso is newer to the Gerrit, it felt entirely possible that Qualcomm might hold off until this top-tier chip was fully ready to compete with the likes of Apple’s M-series processors.

Ready for round one

However, this new social media push confirms they are fully on board for the fall launch window. While we don’t know for certain if the initial devices will feature the Snapdragon X Plus from the ‘Bluey’ family or if ‘Calypso’ is in play, I’d place my bets on the former at this point.

And even if the first Qualcomm-powered Googlebook utilizes the Snapdragon X Plus, it is going to be an incredible fit. That chip offers a fantastic balance of performance and efficiency that will perfectly complement the new, heavy-hitting Gemini Intelligence features and the sleek, lightweight designs we are expecting.