Mysterious ChromeOS tablet could be the work of Lenovo - and might be the future of Chromebooks

(Image credit: Lenovo)

Back in November, there were rumors about a new ChromeOS tablet finally being launched from Lenovo - hopefully a successor to the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet. The mysterious ChromeOS tablet is codenamed ‘Ciri’, and according to last year’s whispers, is powered by the MediaTek MT8188 that could surpass the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7C Gen 2 in the Duet 5.

We hope that the Ciri tablet, or whatever it ends up being called, does make a debut quite soon. Our review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet is absolutely glowing, so we’re definitely excited to see what could surpass one of the best Chromebooks on the market three years after its original release.

According to ChomeUnboxed, we finally have “clear evidence that Lenovo is the driving force behind ‘Ciri’ at this point.” A commit from Chromium Repositories (an open-source online resource for developers and enthusiasts working in ChromeOS and Chrome browser environments), named ‘Ciri’ suggests that it would have Waves disabled on the DSP (digital signal processor).

Waves produce audio components for Windows Laptops and Chromebooks and are frequently used in Lenovo products, so while Waves may be disabled in this instance (meaning less of a focus on audio, another scrap of evidence pointing towards a budget device), it does add some kind of credibility that Lenovo is indeed behind the next Chromebook tablet.

The Chromium Repositories also suggest a display that would fit the existing Duet 3, and the battery being used seems to be based on the same technology used for the Duet 3 as well, so all in all we may be getting a successor to one of the best Chromebooks you could buy - or at least, something very similar.

Since these are still rumors and we’re yet to hear any official word, we can only hold out hope and wait for more information in the coming weeks - and hopefully a proposed launch date.

You might also like...

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).