To say that the transition to the new Android container on Chromebooks (ARCVM) has been a long, painful journey would be a huge understatement. Started well over 2 years ago, ARCVM is a new way to deliver Android apps to Chromebooks compared to the older ARC++ containers. It handles display scaling better and gives developers a more flexible way to handle Android apps now and in the future. For now, it also comes with Android 11: a big step up from the Android 9 build ARC++ Chromebooks are stuck here in 2023.
Is ARCVM correct? Unfortunately, no, but I do enjoy the stability improvements on the Chromebooks I test with ARCVM on board regarding Android apps. While I don’t regularly use a ton of them, when ARCVM is involved there’s a more native feel to Android on ChromeOS and I appreciate that. And yes, I totally get that it’s ridiculous that Chromebooks are still fooling around with Android 11 at this point in 2023.
Here’s the thing, though: Many new Chromebooks come with ARCVM, but There are still many who do not. And of those Chromebooks that still ship with ARC++, ARM-powered devices make up the largest category by far. As this post is issued, ARC++ is still the standard for all ARM-based Chromebooks on the market, including the powerful ones like the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 with the Kompanio 1380 inside.
ARM-based Chromebooks have the ability to run Android apps more-natively (in almost every case the Android app was first built for the phone/ARM processor), you’d think this new container would be great for them, But this has not happened yet. We’ve yet to find a clear and concise answer as to why it’s taking so long for ARCVM to reach the majority of Chromebooks, and the lack of better containers and an upgrade to Android 11 involves what’s happening when using the devices right now. Not included yet. ARCVM Party.
A Light at the End of the Tunnel with the Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3
For the first time, we’re seeing signs of life for ARCVM on an ARM-based Chromebook, though, thanks to a find in the Chromium repository. Some work has been done to push compatibility standards for ARCVM on Chromebooks with the SC7280 (Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3) on board, so this means devices with this SoC inside should be shipped with ARCVM on board . Just have a look
As you can see, the codec work is being done specifically for the ARCVM container on board the Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3. In one of those commits, we see a reference to this chipset “Powerful enough to handle it.” So, maybe there’s a performance hurdle Google needs to reach before it can implement ARCVM, but that still doesn’t explain its lack on the Acer Chromebook Spin 513.
Either way, ARCVM is finally making the jump to ARM. I believe the 7c+ Gen 3 devices are just around the corner, so that means we’ll finally get a look at a more modern Android framework running on ARM-powered devices when they finally start hitting the market. While it won’t be a revolution, it’s a much-needed upgrade that I’m looking forward to testing in the (hopefully) near future.
