Google has revealed that 5G-enabled Chromebooks could be hitting stores early next year.
Chrysanthi Tsolaki, Retail Partner Manager for Chromebooks at Google, revealed the news during a talk at a Qualcomm event in London.
“The first 5G-enabled Chromebooks should be in market in early 2022,” Tsolaki said, while highlighting the importance of on-the-go connectivity for laptops.
5G laptops are nothing new, with the likes of the Galaxy Book Flex2 5G already offering support for the wireless standard. But such laptops only run on Windows right now, often seeing an RRP over £1000.
For Chromebooks, you’re currently limited to 4G speeds, so it’s great to hear that ChromeOS-powered laptops will soon support the faster network connection.
EE claims 5G is capable of speeds over 100Mbps, enabling users to download a film in just a few minutes, whereas a 4G connection would take 15 minutes to download the same video.
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Unfortunately, Google didn’t reveal the names of any specific 5G-toting Chromebooks, although we do know that a new Pixelbook won’t be arriving in 2022.
Google didn’t even say which chip will be powering these 5G Chromebooks, but since Tsolaki was speaking at a Qualcomm event, it’s safe to assume it will be a Snapdragon processor.
It’s also unclear whether these 5G Chromebooks will be available to buy as part of a contract. Previous 4G Chromebooks from the likes of Acer and Samsung have been available to purchase outright, allowing you to insert your own 4G SIM card.
But the likes of EE have started offering laptops as part of a contract deal that bundles in the data plan, allowing buyers to pay a monthly fee and avoid a high up-front cost. But laptop data plans have also been criticised for requiring a separate data plan to smartphones, with no option to integrate it into an existing contracts.
Either way, it looks like we won’t have to wait long to see the very first 5G Chromebooks arrive – we’ve got our fingers crossed for a reveal at the CES 2022 tradeshow in January.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
