Word on the Samsung street is that the manufacturer is readying a 2-in-1 Chromebook with a detachable screen, as a follow-up to the Chromebook Pro and Chromebook Plus laptops that the company released this year – and now we’ve got another piece of the puzzle in terms of what to expect.

As Chrome Unboxed notes, recent changes in a section of the Chrome OS code dedicated to a mystery device (known by the codename of Nautilus) refer to storing and ejecting a stylus. Chances are, Nautilus is Samsung’s upcoming Chromebook.

That means you’ll be able to doodle on the touchscreen screen and give your fingers a rest, as on the Samsung Chromebook Pro, which also came with a stylus. The new model will up the ante by making the screen detachable, so you can turn it into a fully fledged Chrome OS tablet if you’re so inclined.

Stop taking the tablets

Don’t forget that most Chromebooks can now run Android apps too, making a stylus even more useful for tapping around the likes of Netflix and Facebook. Whatever the new Samsung Chromebook ends up being called, it’ll almost certainly be able to run a selection of Android apps.

All of this means Android tablets aren’t really needed any more – as Google itself has acknowledged by finally pulling the Pixel C tablet from its online store after two years. Touchscreen Chromebooks can now act as perfectly decent tablets, running both Android apps and a proper web browser too.

We wouldn’t expect the stylus on Nautilus to be anywhere near the sophistication of the Pen that comes with the Google Pixelbook, but it should do a job for sketching and writing. As for when we’ll see it officially unveiled, keep your eyes on news coming out of the CES show at the start of January.

Via Phandroid