Qualcomm has built a modular autonomous car system offering automakers a shortcut to self-driving vehicles, as the chip-maker attempts to extend its footprint outside smartphones and modems. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride platform includes multiple chips and accelerators for things like computer vision, packaged into a car-friendly form factor, and with a whole software suite for autonomous driving.
eSIM is coming to cars, with Land Rover announcing that the 2020 Defender will pull up with not one but two LTE modems onboard. The rebooted classic SUV already showed off some of its tech upgrades ahead of its arrival in dealerships later this year, but now Land Rover is digging deeper into its new infotainment system.
Windows on ARM processors, which has recently taken the form of Qualcomm's Snapdragon platforms, isn't exactly a new story and, so far, it has never had its happy ending. Earlier this month, Qualcomm revealed yet another attempt to retell that tale, this time with a slight bent towards affordable Windows devices running on new 8c and 7c platforms. It could be bound to fail yet again, but it doesn't have to. In fact, the timing might be perfect but only if Qualcomm and Microsoft try to spin a different narrative.
The Snapdragon 865 is Qualcomm's latest-and-greatest chipset, set to be the 5G heart of most 2020 Android flagships, and unsurprisingly it blows right past its predecessor when it comes to benchmarks. I'm also here to tell you that, having sat with a Snapdragon 865 reference device and watched it clock up sky-high scores in apps like Antutu, Geekbench, and GFXBench, frankly you almost certainly shouldn't care about those numbers.
It's been a big week for mobility, and if you've been wondering what will be powering your Galaxy S11, Pixel 5, or any number of other Android flagships in 2020, Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit 2019 probably held the answer. The week-long event kicked off with new chipsets for smartphones before hitting AR/VR and finally computing, with 5G and AI ever-present themes along the way. Read on for the big news you need to know.
The Galaxy S11 may be Samsung's crowning glory for the beginning of 2020 but it won't be a measure of success for at least one Samsung business. Just like in years past, the flagship will have two versions differing only in the mobile processor used. This year, however, might be the writing on the wall for Samsung's own silicon as the models using the new Snapdragon 865 will reportedly be used in more markets compared to the Exynos 990.
I've been testing out T-Mobile's new 600MHz 5G network on the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, and if you thought 5G was confusing now, get ready for a whole other level of head-scratching. 600MHz - aka low-band - 5G has a huge advantage in that deployment is relatively straightforward, but as my experience this week with both phone and network has found, not all 5G is created equal.
Qualcomm isn't giving up on putting its Snapdragon chips into laptops and 2-in-1 tablets, with the new Snapdragon 8c and 7c Compute platforms promising more options for the mainstream and entry-level. Joining the Snapdragon 8cx, the new chipsets will enable Windows notebooks and other form-factors with all-day battery life, baked-in cellular connectivity, and fanless designs.
Pokémon Go maker Niantic plans to make an augmented reality headset using Qualcomm's new Snapdragon XR2 Platform, paving the way to new games that integrate digital graphics with the real world. The collaboration will see the Niantic Real World Platform brought to not only Niantic's hardware but opened to other developers who want to make vast, shared AR experiences.
Qualcomm has revealed its first mixed reality platform with 5G, the Snapdragon XR2 Platform, aiming to bring ubiquitous connectivity to augmented reality and virtual reality headsets and smart glasses. Debuting in reference design form today, Qualcomm's headset still isn't going to be mistaken for a sleek set of sunglasses, but the features might well make it worth it.
Qualcomm just recently announced the evolution of its 3D ultrasonic fingerprint scanning technology and, truth be told, we did find it to be a huge step forward. 3D Sonic Max, as it is called, checks off almost all the complaints that real-world users had with it on the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10, at least on the company's demo units. Unsurprisingly, hopes are running high that this new piece of tech would be adopted by more smartphone makers, including Apple. But while it's always within the realm of possibility for the 2020 iPhone to have it, it could be a huge step back as far as Apple is concerned.
If you haven't noticed it yet, the big news this week is the announcement of Qualcomm's premier mobile platforms for 2020 premium and flagship smartphones. To be honest, there is almost no surprise there as the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765 showcase the natural evolution of their predecessors based on market trends. That said, Qualcomm may have indirectly helped confirm one detail about Samsung's early 2020 flagship, suggesting that the Galaxy S11 may indeed have 8K video recording capabilities.