Although Windows and Linux have dominated the pre-installed desktop market for some time and that’s not going to change any time soon, Lenovo has decided to also offer an Android-based option. However, this code for the brand’s devices does not come directly from Google. Lenovo has chosen Esper’s custom Android operating system and last week it struck a deal with its first device classified as Esper Foundation-ready, the third-generation ThinkCentre M70a.
Described as a “powerful and robust custom operating system for x86 and ARM devices,” Esper Foundation will be certified to run on three additional Lenovo devices by the end of the year. These are the Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q, the M90n-1 IoT and the ThinkEdge SE30 v2.
According to Johanny Payero, Lenovo’s marketing and strategy director for global advanced solutions, “This collaboration is another step forward in Lenovo’s commitment to meeting evolving customer needs in retail, hospitality, healthcare and other industries. Dedicated devices are increasing in several key industries and our new joint solution with Esper allows us to deliver the best of Android with the consistency and predictability of Lenovo’s x86 devices.”
While home users generally get little benefit from using Android on their PCs, a report last year found that business-specific device use cases account for Android’s 41% share, followed by Windows with 26% of the market. While the lack of official support for x86 devices remains a problem today, 9 out of 10 respondents also expressed interest in running Android on x86 hardware. The study can be viewed at https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/5868902/Whitepapers/451%20Report%20BW_DeviceFleets_2022%202.14.pdf (direct link to a PDF file).
Buy the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 (Ryzen 7 5700G, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 16GB, 1TB) at Amazon