Back in February, was granted a patent that may suggest an upcoming laptop powered by a smartphone. Or the possibility of one, at least. Not unlike the failed attempt by Motorola the Atrix, if has its sights set on such a device combo, it’s bound to get some attention. 

The granted patent is more specifically a “Notebook computer cell phone assembly,” there’s only so many ways you can interpret the description. Unless has something completely unique up its sleeve, the patent itself is for a product you’re probably already aware of little else when it comes to hardware components.

A device using a smartphone as a power hub of sorts isn’t anything new. Unlike the aforementioned Motorola Atrix 4G  laptop dock (pictured above), the Asus dFone uses a smartphone to power a tablet, the company has managed to get a decent following for the device. Other attempts, like the failed dual-booting ndows Android laptops, are seemingly a fading blip on the radar.

 If we ever see anything come of this patent, the debut product will likely be a Chrome laptop powered by an Android smartphone, or some union of the two. Chromebooks are already increasing in popularity, could be the crutch Android needs to jump to the desktop space.

Of course, everything is speculation until otherwise specified. may just have wanted the I without a plan to bring such a device to market at all. Though I could imagine that if were to attempt a smartphone-powered laptop that could also run Chrome OS, it wouldn’t be a sloppy afterthought. And it would definitely be interesting to see Android Chrome OS finally come together.