Skip to main content

Samsung is working on a detachable two-in-one Chromebook

When it comes to portable computers, consumers now have more options than ever. There are doubtless plenty of people who make do with a smartphone, but those wanting a larger screen have the choice of a tablet or traditional notebook computer. Both options have their pros and cons. Laptops offer a larger screen, better keyboards, and are usually more powerful, but they’re also typically more expensive and less portable.

Detachables offer an appealing middle-ground between tablets and notebook computer. A detachable is basically a tablet that comes with a connected keyboard, so you can use it as a traditional notebook. And if you want to use it as a standard touchscreen tablet, then simply remove the display from the keyboard.

Recommended Videos

Detachables have become fairly popular with the rise of the Microsoft Surface, but most of them are pretty pricey. The Surface Book 2 is a great piece of hardware, but it starts at more than $1,000. This brings us to Chrome Unboxed’s report that Samsung is working on a detachable Chromebook.

Generally, Chromebooks, which uses Google’s custom Chrome OS, are more affordable than Windows or Mac laptops. There are some outliers such as the Pixelbook, but Chromebooks generally cost anywhere between $200-$500. It would be nice if Samsung’s detachable Chromebook will stay within that price range, as it’s uncertain if the market has room for too many thousand-dollar Chromebooks.

As for the device itself, we don’t know too much about it, but we do have a few pieces of the puzzle. For starters, it has been reported that this device will be powered by a Kaby Lake processor, and it has been codenamed “Nautilus.” Samsung has not announced this device yet, but one of the names attached to the project, Jongpil Jung, is one that has been exclusive to Samsung devices.

One of the big questions surrounding this Chromebook is when it will launch. There are two likely venues for an announcement. The first is at CES in January of next year, but that may be cutting things a bit close, since development reportedly only began this September. An option that would give the development team a bit more time would be at Samsung’s annual spring event, where it will also likely unveil its next flagship smartphone.

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Samsung wants to speed up the OLED takeover
Jacob Roach playing a game on the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 monitor.

Samsung is one of the main manufacturers of OLED displays, and according to a Newsroom post from yesterday, it wants to push adoption of the technology even further this year. Aiming to increase shipments by 50% with new affordable models, the company could have a big impact on the OLED industry moving forward.

Samsung currently holds a big majority in the OLED market, achieving a 71% share of panels for monitors last year. It's probably no exaggeration to say that wherever Samsung tries to take OLED is where OLED will go. The focus is on monitor panels right now, but once the tech starts to decrease in price, it should affect all types of OLED displays.

Read more
Samsung might put AI smart glasses on the shelves this year
Google's AR smartglasses translation feature demonstrated.

Samsung’s Project Moohan XR headset has grabbed all the spotlights in the past few months, and rightfully so. It serves as the flagship launch vehicle for a reinvigorated Android XR platform, with plenty of hype from Google’s own quarters.
But it seems Samsung has even more ambitious plans in place and is reportedly experimenting with different form factors that go beyond the headset format. According to Korea-based ET News, the company is working on a pair of smart glasses and aims to launch them by the end of the ongoing year.
Currently in development under the codename “HAEAN” (machine-translated name), the smart glasses are reportedly in the final stages of locking the internal hardware and functional capabilities. The wearable device will reportedly come equipped with camera sensors, as well.

What to expect from Samsung’s smart glasses?
The Even G1 smart glasses have optional clip-on gradient shades. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends
The latest leak doesn’t dig into specifics about the internal hardware, but another report from Samsung’s home market sheds some light on the possibilities. As per Maeil Business Newspaper, the Samsung smart glasses will feature a 12-megapixel camera built atop a Sony IMX681 CMOS image sensor.
It is said to offer a dual-silicon architecture, similar to Apple’s Vision Pro headset. The main processor on Samsung’s smart glasses is touted to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 platform, while the secondary processing hub is a chip supplied by NXP.
The onboard camera will open the doors for vision-based capabilities, such as scanning QR codes, gesture recognition, and facial identification. The smart glasses will reportedly tip the scales at 150 grams, while the battery size is claimed to be 155 mAh.

Read more
Chromebooks could soon come with Google’s best AI notetaker
NotebookLM providing summary of YouTube videos.

The Google Chromebook is a slim, barebones machine that relies on Google's suite of tools to handle most tasks, but it's perfect for on-the-go work that doesn't need a powerhouse behind it. Now, these lightweight laptops are about to get a lot better with the addition of NotebookLM. This tool uses Google Gemini to help users take notes, and it's about to start coming on all Chromebooks by default.

This update was spotted by Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority from a change added to the Chromium Gerrit. It suggests — but doesn't yet confirm — that NotebookLM will be included in the list of preinstalled apps on all Chromebooks. If Google goes through with this change, the often-overlooked AI tool would be immediately available to a wider number of users.

Read more