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.
– Jukan (@Jukanlosreve) November 11, 2025
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
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?