New leak hints at Qualcomm bringing Android 16 support to Snapdragon X series processors

Proper Android 16 computers may be over the horizon as Qualcomm is reportedly working to bring support for the OS to its Snapdragon X Elite and X series of processors. Shared by @Jukanlosreve on X, a notable tipster, the company has seemingly updated its internal source repository for "Purwa," which is the codename for the X series.

The shared screenshot also shows manifests for different firmware components, which are part of the Android build environment. For example, the picture shows manifests for the camera subsystem, Bluetooth, and audio subsystem. All of these suggest that Qualcomm engineers are actively working on Android 16 support.

This development isn't far-fetched from what was expected after Google announced that it would merge Chrome OS and Android. Google's announcement followed the introduction of desktop-themed features on Android 16. However, the vanilla version of the smartphone operating system still lacks a proper desktop environment.

Regardless, if this report holds true, laptops, tablets, and mini PCs powered by the Snapdragon X series of processors and running Android may be around the corner. This would be an interesting option within the entire Arm64 development scene that Qualcomm has been involved in since the release of Snapdragon X CPUs (HP OmniBook 5 with X1P-42-100 curr. $549.99 on Amazon).

Another thing to note is that the shared screenshot mentions that Qualcomm is currently working to bring Android 16 support to the last generation of Snapdragon X series. The next-gen processors are said not to be "yet compatible with Android."