Blow for Windows 10 on ARM as Snapdragon Samsung Galaxy Book S rumoured to be cancelled in favour of Intel version

We have new news about the Samsung Galaxy Book S availability. In August Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy Book S, a 13-inch Qualcomm-powered Always Connected PC.

Powered by a Snapdragon 8cx processor, it offered 23-hour battery life, features built-in LTE, had 8 GB of RAM, 256 or 512 GB storage and up to 1 TB of  expandable storage and only weighs 0.96 kg (2 pounds.)

The laptop was meant to hit the market in September, but our readers may have noticed it is November and the only new ARM laptop is the Surface Pro X, with no news about the Samsung Galaxy Book S availability.

Now DrWindows reports that Samsung has become rather cagey regarding the device. When asked when it will hit the market they merely said:

Unfortunately, we can only share the following information on the availability of the Galaxy Book:
The Galaxy Book S will be launched in 13 markets in the coming months, including South Korea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Finland and Norway. We look forward to making Galaxy Book S available in more countries in the future.

Given that the device is already two months delayed, “coming months” suggests a release sometime in 2020.

This is also when an Intel Lakefield-powered Samsung Galaxy Book S, announced by Intel at the end of October, is expected to arrive.

Then Intel said:

On Oct. 29, 2019, in San Jose, California, Samsung announced the new Galaxy Book Ion based on 10th Gen Intel Core processors. It was co-engineered with Intel as part of its collaboration on the New Mobile Computing initiative with Samsung. The thin-and-light laptop is one of the first devices from Samsung that is verified to the target specification and key experiences of Intel’s innovation program code-named “Project Athena.”

Putting two and two together DrWindows suggests the ARM-powered device may have been cancelled, similar to how the Lenovo Yoga C630 with Snapdragon 850 was delayed until it was replaced with the C640 with an Intel CPU and that next time we hear about the Samsung Galaxy Book S availability it will be with an Intel processor.

Given how poorly the Surface Pro X, which features a customized Qualcomm CPU, was reviewed, the move may be for the best.

What do our readers think? Let us know below.