High-end Google Pixel laptop under development, may ditch Chrome OS for Android

Rumor mill: Google is reportedly working on a high-end Pixel laptop, codenamed “Snowy.” The company is said to have assigned a dedicated team to the project, and the development is apparently ramping up “pretty quickly.” If the report turns out to be accurate, it will be Google’s second Pixel-branded laptop after the Pixelbook Go that launched in 2019.

The news comes from Android Headlines, which claims to have seen an internal Google email that suggests the so-called Pixel laptop is under active development. The report adds that it will have a premium build and high-end specifications, but does not offer details about the actual hardware.

According to the report, Google is targeting premium laptop brands with the upcoming device, and is designing it to compete with the likes of MacBook Pro, Dell XPS, Microsoft Surface Laptop, and the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook. Meanwhile, Google is also believed to be working on the Pixel Tablet 2, so it will be interesting to see how the company prices the two devices.

The report is corroborated by Android Authority, which adds that Google’s new laptop will likely run Android instead of Chrome OS – the company’s OS of choice for budget laptops. The report also speculates that the move could be part of Google’s plan to eventually phase out Chrome OS in favor of Android.

The choice of Android is an interesting one, as it will clearly differentiate the Pixel laptop from Chromebooks. It also means that the device will likely be powered by an Arm processor, but it’s unclear whether it will be a Tensor chip or an off-the-rack SoC from Qualcomm or another vendor. Google currently uses Tensor processors for its Pixel smartphones, while Chromebooks are typically powered by x86 processors from Intel and AMD or Arm chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek.

For reference, Google’s previous in-house laptop, the Pixelbook Go, runs Chrome OS and is powered by Intel CPUs. It comes with the Intel Core M3 chip on the base variant and Intel Core i7 processors on the higher-end models. Other key hardware specs include a 13.3-inch display, 8GB and 16GB RAM options, and 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage.