By John Loughney, Chrome OS Segment Product Manager
5X in One Year: The Rise of Chromebooks
As the head of Intel’s Chrome OS product team, I’ve been thrilled to see and work on the incredible rise of Chrome OS devices, firsthand. Ten years after the first Chromebook shipped, this ecosystem is entering a new chapter of rapid innovation and explosive growth. For developers, it’s an unprecedented opportunity to reach millions of people and build the future of the Chrome OS ecosystem.
While adoption has grown steadily since 2011, Chromebook sales hit a new level in the past year—skyrocketing by more than 5X from 2020 in the U.S.3 Why? When we meet with our partners and customers, we hear the same answer, again and again: people love today’s Chromebooks. And Intel’s research proves it. People rate “how good it looks,” “how fast it starts up,” “how easy it is to use,” and “how fast it runs apps” as their favorite parts of the Chromebook experience.4
This is a passionate audience eager for new apps and experiences.. And with Chrome OS devices now supporting Linux apps, Android apps and Progressive Web Apps in a unified ecosystem, it’s never been easier to develop the next chartbuster app.
Intel is committed to growing this ecosystem. It’s why we’ve doubled down on our collaboration with Google and our OEM partners to co-engineer the first-ever Intel® Evo™-verified Chromebooks: the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 and ASUS Chromebook CX9. And it’s why we’re directly engaging the developer community with new events like Intel ON, tools and resources specifically for Chrome OS.
If you’re a developer, you should join us. Chrome OS system choice spans a significant price band and feature set, offering more options for consumers. In the Chrome ecosystem, you can find three keys for growth: the audience, the capabilities and the community.
Tap into Incredible Growth
In our research, Chrome OS fans tell us they use their devices for both work (~11 hours per week) and personal use (~12 hours) across a wide range of activities: productivity, videos, music, gaming, creating, livestreaming and more.4 They want a seamless, mobile, app-driven experience, but they also want the responsiveness, battery life and connectivity of the most advanced laptops.
We’re working with OEMs to design Chrome OS devices for the second half of this equation, so developers can focus on the first. Intel has developed a full platform specifically for Chrome OS. That includes extensive optimizations with the OS, a secure container for all Android apps and support for any Linux apps—all with great battery life.
Dream Big, Develop Bigger—with A Full PC Platform
Developers can achieve more by tapping into the rich hardware and software on Intel-powered Chrome OS devices. Design apps to store content locally with Thunderbolt 4, run smoothly with ultra-fast Wi-Fi 6 or wired connectivity, leverage the 4K UDH touchscreen and dual speakers on the ASUS CX9, or the 360° convertible modes on the Acer Spin 713.
Plus, our team is working to unlock the performance-enhancing capabilities of Intel® Core™ processors for Linux on Chrome OS, sometimes called Crostini. This enables developers to build and run any Linux app within a virtualized Linux environment.
Join Chrome’s Developer Community
Together with Google, Intel is supporting developers with new events and resources. The new Intel ON event series will bring together developers and the ecosystem to connect and learn what’s coming next. Already, developers can access training and industry-leading developer resources, like Intel® Developer Zone Android* Resources, Intel® Graphics for Linux Intel® Video and Audio for Linux and ChromeOS.dev, an online destination for Chrome OS developers.
Intel is expanding the system-level capabilities of today’s Chromebooks. This offers a next level of richness that we want to help developers tap into.” - John Loughney, Chrome OS Segment Product Manager
Intel has also teamed up with Dell, Google, HP and other industry leaders to launch the Modern Computing Alliance (MCA), which is driving silicon-to-cloud innovation to help develop better business apps. For example, the MCA is working on a more powerful Zoom Progressive Web App that will tap into specific hardware IP on Intel processors for better video conferencing.
Intel’s Commitment to Developers & Chrome OS
The future of Chrome OS is full of opportunity. From productivity and education, to gaming and creation, developers can create the experiences that Chrome OS enthusiasts count on and turn to, every day.
Our team is working to provide the building blocks to unleash that ingenuity, and we’ll continue to conduct research to understand what Chrome OS fans want and the developer tools that can make it happen. We’re also working on hybrid applications that combine cloud and client power.
My ask is that you’ll join us on this journey. Together, we can meet people’s growing demand for new Chrome OS experiences by bringing together the best of the PC ecosystem with the best of the developer community.