Beyond the Alphabet
Beyond the Alphabet is a weekly column that focuses on the tech world both inside and out of the confines of Mountain View.
Chromebooks: B / Tablets: A
A rollercoaster of a year for Chromebooks and ChromeOS
For much of the year, things were fairly quiet with Chromebooks. Really, the first half of the year was more “ho-hum” than I expected, with new Chromebook releases being quite iterative. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, as Samsung and Lenovo ended 2024 with a bang thanks to the former’s return to the platform after a hiatus, and the latter bringing us another great hybrid option.
Fundamentally, there weren’t many drastic changes made to ChromeOS, as Google shifted its focus to better implementing Gemini into the system. Little did I know that bigger plans were on the horizon for both the hardware and the software.
Flagship ARM chips bring x86 power without sacrificing battery life
The major shift didn’t really begin until the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 was revealed in June, offering the “dream” Chromebook with excellent performance and incredible battery life. Lenovo certainly delivered, thanks to the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910, an ARM chip that goes toe-to-toe with some of the best traditional x86 chips found in Chromebooks.
Not only does this make for a very snappy Chromebook, but the Kompanio Ultra allowed Google to implement even more on-device Gemini functionality. Up to this point, a few AI tasks could be handled locally, but many still relied on cloud processing, potentially slowing your workflow. That’s now changed, as you’re now able to perform tasks like editing images with Gemini on your Chromebook.
It wouldn’t be until September that we would see the Kompanio Ultra arrive in another option, as Acer picked up the mantle with its Chromebook Plus Spin 514. It offers the same level of performance as Lenovo’s Chromebook, but has the benefit of sporting a convertible design, whereas the Lenovo sticks to a traditional laptop design.
Just as impressive, if not more so, is the battery life for these new Chromebooks. Both the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 and Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 are rated to last for up to 17 hours on a single charge. This is a far cry from the 8-10 hours we’re used to seeing on many of the best Chromebooks that rely on x86 processors.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the Chromebook world
While it was awesome to see the Kompanio Ultra set a new standard for what Chromebooks should be capable of, only two OEMs are bringing these to the masses. Samsung seems to be just letting the Galaxy Chromebook Plus ride the wave for a while, while ASUS and HP have pushed more iterative releases.
Honestly, that’s not really a big deal, as it’s still nice to have a bit of competition in the space, regardless of the price range. However, I was frustrated by OEMs’ unwillingness to release Chromebooks with higher storage configurations. Some have microSD card slots, which is great (in theory), but not always reliable.
I hoped we’d see at least one Chromebook with 1TB of storage, but we didn’t even get one with 512GB. Well, at least not one released for consumers and not limited to businesses.
This could become a problem rather quickly. One concern is that as Chromebooks become more powerful, it opens the door to more on-device Gemini and AI functionality.
However, to perform tasks on-device, the necessary AI models must be accessible locally, so they must be downloaded. So it’s not entirely inconceivable that your brand-new 128GB Chromebook really only has around 100GB of usable space, which simply isn’t enough for a daily computing device.
The other problem is that a memory shortage is already driving up the prices of RAM and storage. Just as a brief example, take the SanDisk Extreme 1TB microSD card. For much of the past year, it’s hovered around the $100 mark, reaching a low of about $76 back in October.
However, over the past two months, the price creep has led the microSD card to be priced at $140. The same can be said for the 2TB SanDisk Extreme microSD card, which had an average price of $180 over the past 6 months, only to now cost an eye-watering $270.
Really, all I can say is that we all need to buckle in while the AI boom drives prices through the roof.
Smaller flagship tablets are trickling in
Pivoting over to tablets, one of my biggest wishes coming into 2025 was that we would end up seeing smaller flagship tablets released. Man oh man, not only did we see that, but I’d almost go so far as to say it’s becoming a trend with more and more options becoming available.
Lenovo kicked off the year in a big way by releasing the 8.8-inch Legion Tab Gen 3 here in the U.S., which is essentially just a rebranded Y700 2024 that was only available abroad. Lenovo also released the Y700 (Gen 4), powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, but the company has yet to bring that tablet to the U.S. market.
However, the RedMagic Astra arrived in June, bringing with it both a 9.06-inch OLED display and the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Unlike the Y700, the Astra is available here in the States, serving as the most powerful Android tablet that doesn’t feel like you’re carrying around a laptop.
I hope to see even more tablets under 10 inches released in 2026, but I’m also pretty happy with the current state.
Android tablets are actually good again
For those who don’t care quite as much about having smaller, powerful tablets, 2025 was really a banner year for the category across the board. Samsung led the charge with its release of the Galaxy Tab S11 and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, both of which are powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Plus.
OnePlus dethroned Samsung as the best Android tablet with the OnePlus Pad 3, which runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite and features an excellent 13.2-inch, 144Hz display. But it also comes equipped with plenty of great features to improve the experience, and I don’t mean just by shoehorning AI into every facet of the software.
Lenovo and Xiaomi also released new flagship tablets, while Honor beat everyone else to the market with the MagicPad 3 Pro, the first tablet powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. I haven’t gotten my hands on that one just yet, but I’ll hopefully be able to change that in the near future.
Arguably, the best part of all this is that, aside from Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11, all these tablets can be had for under $1,000. For years, Samsung dominated the tablet market, but it seems the tide is finally beginning to shift, as more and more OEMs are entering the ring.
2026 might flip everything on its head
Looking back at the past year, there are reasons to be excited about both Chromebooks and tablets, regardless of your stance on one versus the other. However, it might not be long before the two converge into a single device, as Google and Qualcomm alluded to the potential of an Android-powered laptop at the most recent Qualcomm Summit.
At the moment, we don’t really know much about what a supposed Android Laptop powered by Qualcomm would look like, aside from trying out Desktop Mode in Android 16. I can’t imagine this being the replacement for ChromeOS, as the platform continues to grow and is heavily relied upon in schools. But I’m also intrigued by how this will be positioned in a market dominated by Windows and macOS.
Then again, this could just be an experiment with Google, wanting to see where it goes before deciding what the future holds. Or it could really spell the beginning of the end for Chromebooks and even laptop-replacement tablets like the Tab S11 Ultra.
I’m excited to see what’s to come as we head into 2026, as I hope both Chromebooks and Android tablets continue to grow in popularity. That said, I am also concerned about the dark clouds moving in across the tech space as a whole, and what the space will look like if memory shortages continue to plague the industry.
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