Spiria logo.

OP, a Google SoC

February 23, 2017.

OP/Google.

Image © OP/Google.

When he reviewed the new Samsung Chromebook Plus, reporter Dieter Bohn was pleasantly surprised by the very decent performance of its ARM System on a Chip (SoC), especially since the machine cost just US$450. Are ARM processors finally giving Intel a run for its money in the laptop race? Dieter Bohn noted that the processor responsible for this performance was the mysterious OP1, built by a company called Rockchip. Digging a little deeper, he found out that the OP brand is trademarked by none other than Google. We already knew that Google was providing technological support to Chromebook builders, but little did we know that it would lead to the creation of ARM processors specifically optimized for the Chrome OS. Google has been coy about its newest brand of processors; in fact, the OP1 website is anonymous, making no reference whatsoever to Google.

The Verge, “Solving the mystery behind the OP1 processor in the Chromebook Plus.”