Android 16 introduces a new feature that lets you run full desktop Linux apps, but Qualcomm Snapdragon chips don’t support it. Here’s why.
Qualcomm’s powerful new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip unfortunately doesn’t support Android’s new Linux Terminal feature.
This is because the feature requires support for “non-protected” virtual machines, which Qualcomm’s latest high-end chip does not offer.
As a result, users wanting to run desktop Linux apps on Android must currently use a device with a Google, MediaTek, or Samsung chip.
When Qualcomm unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 last month, the question on most people’s minds was: “How well does it perform?” The answer, it turns out, is incredibly well — at least in benchmarks.
Qualcomm has always done a great job at building powerful, yet efficient, mobile processors, but it’s hard to find real-world tasks that can really push those processors to their limits. That’s because most Android apps are built for the lowest common denominator — cheap devices with vastly slower processors than flagship phones. On the other hand, many Linux apps are built for people with powerful workstations, as Linux is popular among power users and developers.
Thanks to the new Linux Terminal feature, it’s now possible to run many of these Linux apps on Android devices. However, not every Android device has access to the Linux Terminal, as it has two requirements that many devices don’t meet.
First, it requires the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) to be available on the device, as it uses the framework to create a Debian virtual machine. AVF is part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), so it’s available to all manufacturers, but that doesn’t mean it will work out of the box on all devices.
