Samsung may be making a Chromebook Plus device, too

It’s been quite a while since we’ve talked about Samsung in the Chromebook space. Ironically, one of the biggest and most noteworthy devices released early in the life cycle of Chrome Unboxed was the Samsung Chromebook Plus. It was early in our formation that Samsung showed up to CES 2017 and put the Chromebook Plus right in the middle of their big keynote presentation. And that was back before Chromebook Plus was cool!

Fast forward to today and Samsung Chromebooks aren’t really at the center of any ChromeOS conversations. What started with the Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro and continued with the Galaxy Chromebook has devolved into corner-cut devices and oddball inclusions like we see in the latest Galaxy Chromebook 2 360. We’ve talked at length about this in the past, so I won’t get into it again. Just know that Samsung’s presence in the Chromebook market has slowly faded for no good reason, and we all would like to see them make a comeback.

A new Chromebook Plus device from Samsung

While what I’ve found from Samsung isn’t exactly a massive comeback strategy, there’s definitely reason to believe that this new device – code named ‘Pirrha’ – will be among those that bear the new Chromebook Plus branding. And at this point in the Chromebook story, I think that’s a spot where they could not only show up, but win as well.

There are plenty more commits around this device, but the clear takeaways here are the emails attached to this device (sh_.kim@samsung.corp-partner.google.com) and the fact that it is a ‘Nissa’ variant. With Samsung emails all over this device and the references to ‘Nissa’, we can be quite certain that a new Samsung Chromebook is in development and that it will house the same processor we see in devices like the excellent Lenovo Chromebook Slim 3i and other Chromebook Plus models.

While there is a possibility that this new device ends up housing an Intel N100 or N200 processor (those are also derived from the ‘Nissa’ base board), I’d wager Samsung is ready to get back in the game a bit with a new Chromebook Plus model and the necessary Intel Core i3-N305 that I’ve been very fond of thus far in a few devices.

If they can return to the fray with some great build quality, the standard Chromebook Plus specs, and a bit of additional Samsung flare, I think this new device could be a big hit for sure. People tend to flock to Samsung Chromebooks even when they aren’t that great, so if they show up with a new Chromebook Plus and make it better than the others available, it could be a massive hit for sure.

I could see a device similar to the Galaxy Chromebook 2 being a great Chromebook Plus model from Samsung, and even the naming could work – Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus. With some of the Windows devices they’ve been building over the past few years, I could really see this new device being a great blend of power, versatility, performance and value. And it’s been long enough. It’s time for a Samsung Chromebook comeback, and ‘Pirrha’ could be just what we’ve been waiting for.