Qualcomm is finally giving you the option to avoid Windows 11 on your next laptop. If you’re thinking about getting a Snapdragon X2-based PC, you may soon be able to go for a full Linux build if you’re trying to become yet another refugee from Microsoft’s contentious operating system.
Qualcomm detailed its plans in its latest developer blog. First things first, Qualcomm is only promising to support Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite chips, not the original Snapdragon X processors. You’ll have to look to community-made distros if you want to turn your ARM-based PC into a Linux machine. Qualcomm offered the tidbit about its Linux plans at Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii (full disclosure: travel and lodging were paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo did not guarantee any coverage as a condition of accepting the trip). As for its future roadmap, Qualcomm has a three-part plan to ride the wave of Linux PCs.
First, Qualcomm plans to upstream its core drivers for Linux distros—specifically for its Oryon CPU cores and Hexagon NPU. The second part of the plan involves creating a working reference Linux distro by the end of 2026, specifically with the Debian distro.
Finally, in the first half of next year, Qualcomm says it’s going to craft a one-button installer version of Linux available for devices. That’s going to include Debian and the popular Ubuntu distro as well. Cindy Goldberg, the VP of partnerships at Canonical, says Ubuntu should be certified for Snapdragon devices in the same early 2027 time frame. The company promises this should first be compatible with both HP and Asus devices, like the Asus Zenbook A 16 laptop, as an initial thrust for this initiative. The lingering question is whether we’ll finally see laptop makers start to ship devices with Linux pre-installed, like the Intel-based Framework 13 Pro.
With Qualcomm’s original PC chips coming to Googlebooks and that odd integration of Android and Android, it only seems natural that the chipmaker is now going to start supporting Linux as well. It also says something about the state of PCs, now that users are growing more tired of their choice of locked-down operating systems.
Microsoft seems to know that people have grown increasingly unhappy with Windows 11—and not just because of its obsession with Copilot AI. The company is working to make the OS more efficient on lower-end laptops while offering long-requested features like a movable taskbar. Windows is still a more user-friendly OS than Linux, but the alternative, open-source OS is gaining a larger foothold, and the companies who build our PCs are increasingly taking note.
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