Android PCs could debut soon with older Snapdragon X chips, rumors suggest

[Alfonso Maruccia]

In context: We know that Google and its Arm ecosystem partners have been working on a novel "Android PC" concept for a while. These new devices should soon come to market, but they could have modest hardware specifications compared to the competition.

The "incredible" Android PC devices Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon was talking about in September are approaching fast, and they don't seem that incredible after all. According to the latest rumors from Korea, Qualcomm is working on Android 16 support for the Snapdragon X and Snapdragon X Elite SoC series, which was introduced more than a year ago to power a new generation of Windows on Arm laptops.

Shared by Korean analyst "Jukan" on X, the rumor refers to a screenshot coming from Android 16's private code list. Qualcomm has already uploaded the code required for Android to run on Snapdragon X and X Elite systems, which are known by their "purwa" code names in the Android repository.

The private commit also reveals the code name for the next generation of Qualcomm's SoC for Windows on Arm products: "mahua." Jukan said that mahua should power the low-performance variant of the new chip, just as Snapdragon X served as the lower-tier companion to Snapdragon X Elite. The analyst added that no hardware specs are currently known.

Rumor: Android computers appear to be on the way.

Qualcomm is working on Android 16 support for the X Elite and X (series). The picture shows purwa (Snapdragon X)'s Android 16 private code list, and Qualcomm has already uploaded the Android code for X Elite and X (to the… pic.twitter.com/pQ1vnNOvgQ

– Jukan (@Jukanlosreve) November 11, 2025

Choosing the Snapdragon X (Elite) platform to power the debut of these new Android PCs seems like a rather conservative choice. Qualcomm has already prepared the Snapdragon X2 (Elite) generation to power next-gen Windows on Arm devices, providing a significant performance increase to fend off the Apple M4 (Pro) competition.

Google recently said that the Android PC developed with Qualcomm will be a common technical foundation for turning the mobile OS into a proper desktop computing platform. Forcing Android to run on older hardware, while major players are already teasing their future platforms, doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the project.

Qualcomm's commit to Android 16's code base could very well be just a starting point, while further contributions designed to support newer Snapdragon systems may be on the way. In any case, Snapdragon X systems seem to have a popularity issue as well. Windows on Arm continues to be a tough proposal for PC customers, but maybe Microsoft could have better fortune with its agentic OS concept?

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Android PCs could debut soon with older Snapdragon X chips, rumors suggest

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

We already have Chromebooks with ARM chips, that can use Android apps off the Google Play Store. Those machines haven't exactly taken the market by storm. So what exactly will these new Android laptops being doing that is different?

 

[JMGuy]

We already have Chromebooks with ARM chips, that can use Android apps off the Google Play Store. Those machines haven't exactly taken the market by storm. So what exactly will these new Android laptops being doing that is different?

Not Windows?

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Not Windows?

Chromebooks are already Not Windows.

 

[JMGuy]

Chromebooks are already Not Windows.

Ask obvious questions, get obvious answers—on both counts, apparently. My apologies for being so hopelessly obtuse.

Allow me to rephrase as a statement:
There should be more options on the market that aren’t Windows.

Thank you for the thrilling descent into the fine art of pedantry. Cheers!

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Ask obvious questions, get obvious answers—on both counts, apparently. My apologies for being so hopelessly obtuse.

Allow me to rephrase as a statement:
There should be more options on the market that aren’t Windows.

Thank you for the thrilling descent into the fine art of pedantry. Cheers!

More options are generally nice, but my main question would be how does this new option functionally differ from an option that is already on the market. If its basically just an ARM Chromebook with a slightly different UI I can't imagine it being that popular.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Ask obvious questions, get obvious answers—on both counts, apparently. My apologies for being so hopelessly obtuse.

Allow me to rephrase as a statement:
There should be more options on the market that aren’t Windows.

Thank you for the thrilling descent into the fine art of pedantry. Cheers!

But the previous ARM not Windows devices did not succeed. so going back to the original question: What are these doing that is original?

 

[Liranan]

An Android tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse is already exactly this.

 

[SRB]

Just think of it....they'll cost far more than tablets and chromebooks, yet with the same planned obsolescence of android tablets, it's a win-win for Google and Arm that makes Windows look much better.
Only one who loses with this is the poor sucker who buys one.

 

[ferrellsl]

So, they're just making a Google branded successor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 with its keyboard/trackpad combo. With Google's track record of dropping support for their products without warning, I'll just stick to different brands of tablets.

 

[ZedRM]

Hey Google, how about making a version of Android for Intel and AMD based CPUs? That is a whole untapped market. Why have you not done this yet?

 

[ZedRM]

Chromebooks are already Not Windows.

Yeah, but ChromeOS sucks.