OEMs rally behind Qualcomm and its Snapdragon 810

Qualcomm may have admitted to the loss of a "large customer", which everyone knows by now to be Samsung, but the chip maker is far from ready to abdicated the mobile processor market throne. It has now called the banners of different manufacturers to come to its aid and convince the public, investors, and other manufacturers that there is nothing to fear from the Snapdragon 810 and that it is the chip to have for 2015. Noticeably but unsurprisingly, Samsung is absent from the roll call.

The Snapdragon 810 came into the spotlight once again, after first being mired in rumors of delays, when Samsung was said to be ditching the chip due to overheating issues. Qualcomm itself makes no admission of such problems but, in its Q1 2015 fiscal report, it revealed that a large customer would indeed be moving away from its chip for its design iteration this year. LG, on the other hand, whose own G Flex 2 uses the chip, was quick, perhaps too quick, to say it has had no problems with the processor, but with the subtle hint that it just managed to design around whatever heating problems there were in the first place.

The whispers seems to have taken a toll on Qualcomm, which suddenly saw it fit to make a PR statement lauding the qualities of the Snapdragon 810. After all, what's not to like? Support for LTE Cat. 9, 4K resolutions, 64-bit computing, and Hi-Res audio are just some of the talents that the chip has. That's not yet including the other side benefits that Qualcomm offers, like its new SafeSwitch "kill switch" feature.

OEMs who have responded to Qualcomm's call include, of course, LG and Xiaomi, who have already announced their 2015 Snapdragon 810 contenders, the G Flex 2 and the Mi Note Pro, respectively. Sony, Motorla, OPPO, and, quite surprisingly, Microsoft, have also rallied behind the chip maker. Also noticeably missing is HTC. Perhaps more than a simple show of support for Qualcomm's chip, the lists also confirms the Snapdragon 810 OEM lineup for this year, with hints that some would be coming as early as a few weeks from now. But given that the Snapdragon 810 is Qualcomm's main contender and that, in a few weeks or months, whatever overheating problems the chip has can be fixed, that list is actually not that surprising.

SOURCE: Qualcomm