Beyond the alphabet
Beyond the alphabet is a weekly chronicle which focuses on the world of technology inside and outside the limits of Mountain View.
After Lenovo and Samsung began their last Chromebooks last year, I thought we would reserve great things in 2025. Advance fast until now, because we are almost three full months in the year, and there has not been much.
Of course, Chromeos is always updated at its regular rate, and there are some rumors here and there. These came and came, and HP even announced more than 20 new devices During its amplify conference, none of which is fed by Chromeos. Instead, what we have seen so far is an updated Acer Chromebook, the more 515 Chromebook Spin 312And the Lenovo Chromebook plus 2 in 1. That’s almost everything.
Our friends from Chrome Unboxed have kept an eye on a few things, like a Lenovo Chromebook powered by the “Mediatek MT8196“And a potential asus chromebook which is named”Skywalker“But these have not yet arrived, and we do not really know how one or the other of the lightning MT8196 Said he is addressed to the 9400 dimensity and the Chromebook Lenovo “Navi” potentially shipped with a “16 -inch 4K screen”.
None of this means that we need A new harvest of chromebooks. The Galaxy Chromebook Plus and Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 are well nestled at the top of the food chain. Then there are a lot of options when you go down further in the price levels, with the duet of Lenovo Chromebook 11 offering the best chromeos tablet experience.
At the same time, it has been about six months since the Galaxy Chromebook Plus and the Duo 11 were introduced. It’s long with what looks like a radio silence, and those we have seen, these are just refreshments of specifications.
Why didn’t we see many new Chromebooks?
It is almost impossible to underline a specific reason to explain why companies have slowed down the liberation calendar. But I think a few factors are at stake, starting with the start of the school year of Samsung in the Chromebook space.
For a few years, we saw Acer, HP, Lenovo and others enter and enjoy the weather under the spotlight. However, seeing that Google worked with Samsung to present the first Chromebook with the new quick insert key, I must wonder if there is no animosity. Since the release of the Galaxy Chromebook Plus, we have not yet seen the dedicated key to making its way to other Chromebooks.
Google presented the keyboard “Launcher + F” keyboard combination for everyone when he published Chromeos M130 at the end of 2024. Even again, it is a bit strange that Google has somehow left all the other OEMs to dry, giving Samsung yet another exclusivity. It is the same kind of feeling that I had when Samsung and Google have teamed up for the overhaul of OS 3 wear. Okay, it may not be exactly the same thing, but it is quite close.
Another potential reason for which we have not seen new Chromebooks could be that they have reached a little. Chromeos is not supposed to do as much as MacOS or Windows, and unless you are notified (or you just like to tinker), the majority of people will not even know that you can use Linux applications.
So, is it really logical that chromebooks are continuously on an annual rate when the underlying equipment is essentially exaggerated? We all like about the quantity of memory that Chrome eats on our computers, but this is not as much a problem on Chromeos. The majority of Chromebook buyers probably agree with 4 GB of RAM, although I argue that we have a long time beyond the moment when 8 GB should be the new minimum.
Again, everyone has no more than 30 open tabs, with a lot of applications at any time. I just need a framework to publish a new main table of Chromeos so that I can have as much RAM and storage as I wish. But I’m getting lost.
Does a Pixel laptop arrive?
Something else I had in my head is the idea that stems from Google rumors working on a “pixel laptop”. Instead of being powered by Chromeos, which would make sense, it would count on Android. I am not convinced that it is something other than Google trying to offer different ideas and implementations.
However, Google has made fairly massive progress in improving the office mode that has been sleeping in Android for years. Perhaps the Pixel laptop, perhaps, may never have been a consumption device and rather provided Google a kind of “playground”.
Without forgetting that there is now a Linux Terminal application integrated into Pixel phones, in addition to rumors that Google works to bring extensions to the Chrome mobile application. Puzzle pieces seem to start to set up, but we still only work with the edge. So, what has Chromeos have to do with all of this?
Aside from the short tangent, we forget that Google already had a functional implementation of chromeos operating on a pixel phone. Apparently it was never going to be published, but in November 2024, another rumor suggested that Google was preparing to “completely migrate the chromeos to Android”.
Such a movement would allow Google to provide a more fluid and natural experience on devices with larger screens, such as tablets and perhaps even foldable. However, you can also, in theory, connect your phone to a home station, as well as certain devices, plug in an external screen and essentially have the same experience as Chromebook.
At the same time, this decision could potentially spell the end of ChromeBooks as we know them. I do not think that something drastic will happen with regard to the education segment, because there is simply too much money for Google to happen again. However, consumer chromebooks could possibly be replaced by our phones, which could explain how we find ourselves in the current situation.
The truth is that even if it is fun for me to sit here and act as if I could understand what Google has planned, I have no idea what will happen. It could just be me trying to collect pieces for a puzzle that does not exist.
But for me, it’s like the old saying: “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” Obviously, Google is up to somethingAnd I would be ready to bet that we will learn more than two months when Google E / S will take place.
