Support is growing for Microsoft and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 laptops.
The two companies today announced support from eight new carriers, bringing the number to 13 worldwide. Operators are expected to begin unveiling their offerings within the first half of 2018.
Microsoft and Qualcomm also announced stock will be available online and in physical stores starting this quarter from 10 retailers.
None of the carriers announced are Canadian, and the new retail partners, which include Amazon and the Microsoft Store, have not announced Canadian availability yet.
The new supporting carriers include T-Mobile, AT&T, Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom and Transatel.
So far, three Windows 10 2-in-1 laptops running on the Snapdragon 835 have been announced, from Lenovo, Asus and HP.
The obvious draw is constant LTE connectivity, but battery life and slim, fanless designs are also main selling points afforded by the small chipset.
Each of the laptops come pre-loaded with Windows 10 S, a pared-down version of the Windows operating system that limits apps to only those that can be downloaded from the Windows Store.
One of the keys aspects of the always-connected PCs’ success, however, will be whether the devices can offer solid desktop app performance when upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.
Though Microsoft already published the limitations of the system, there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to real-world performance.
From a business perspective, it’ll be key for Qualcomm and Microsoft to continue building carrier partnerships, as readily-available LTE service plans are essential to the laptops’ value propositions. This announcement shows some promising steps forward in that direction in several international markets.
Hopefully, the Canadian market is next up.
Pictured above: HP Envy x2.
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