- By Prateek Levi
- Wed, 12 Nov 2025 02:46 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Qualcomm could be gearing up for a major shift in its PC strategy, and Android might be at the centre of it. According to a new leak, the chipmaker is reportedly working on bringing Android 16 support to its Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X PC chipsets, potentially paving the way for a new wave of Android-powered laptops and desktops.
Android 16 spotted running on the Snapdragon X series
A tipster who goes by @Jukanlosreve on X shared details suggesting that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X SoCs were listed in the private Android 16 code repository. The finding hints that the company is testing Android compatibility for its PC-class chips, signalling what could be the beginning of a broader Android-on-PC initiative.
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The leaked image reportedly shows “purwa” inside Qualcomm’s internal Android 16 development environment—a codename previously linked to the Snapdragon X series. The inclusion of this chipset in Android’s private code list suggests that drivers and kernel optimisations allowing Android to fully utilise the hardware could already be in development.
A new Windows on Arm chip is in the works
Alongside these Android developments, the same leak claims Qualcomm is building a new Windows on Arm (WoA) processor, internally codenamed “mahua”, which interestingly translates to “twisted doughnut” in Chinese. This chip is said to complement the company’s flagship Snapdragon X2 Elite, offering two variants — one designed for high performance and another targeting the midrange segment with performance levels similar to the current Snapdragon X chip.
Google and Qualcomm’s growing collaboration
These findings align with Qualcomm’s closer collaboration with Google in recent months. Speaking at the Snapdragon Summit in September, Sameer Samat, President of the Android Ecosystem at Google, said, “We (Google and Qualcomm) all want our devices to work seamlessly together.”
While he didn’t directly reference Android PCs, Samat hinted at something bigger in the works, adding, “We're basically taking the ChromeOS experience, and we're re-baselining the technology underneath it on Android.”
If these reports hold true, Qualcomm may be looking to blur the lines between mobile and PC ecosystems — giving rise to a new generation of Android-based computing devices powered by the same chips found in next-gen laptops.
