Qualcomm

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor already features in a few high-end smartphones - the Galaxy S8 and Xperia XZ Premium come to mind - but before long, it'll serve as the brains of Windows 10 PCs as well. Qualcomm announced today that it has partnered with three different PC manufacturers to bring the Snaprdragon 835 to their machines. It certainly sounds like the new Surface Pro is going to have some Snapdragon-flavored competition shortly.

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Routers may not be sexy but they can definitely be ambitious, with Qualcomm looking to replace your Echo, router, and smart home bridges with a single unit. The company unveiled its Mesh Networking Platform and Reference Design at Computex 2017 this week, an all-in-one that combines mesh networking, self-healing and -organizing configuration, voice agents like Alexa and Google Assistant, and all the radios to talk to your connected lights, locks, speakers, and more, in a single box.

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Today the cofounder of Android revealed a new device called Essential Phone - and we're running down the details. This device is a smartphone running Android, it has front and back-facing cameras, and it has a big touchscreen display. Outside of that, there's a bunch of details that are easy to get excited about, as they're aiming to be everything the average Android phone - or iPhone - really isn't.

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Some car makers are already announcing the death of diesel engines and their replacement by electric ones. As ideal as that might be from an economy and environment perspective, it's still an untenable future, mostly because of problems with the ubiquity and spread of charging stations. If all goes well with this new development, however, that may no longer be a problem at all. Renault, Qualcomm, and Vedecom have successfully demonstrated a Kangaroo Z.E. that was able to charge wirelessly up to 20 kw, even while traveling at speeds of or more than 100 kilometers per hour.

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To the surprise of no one, Samsung has just created a new division within it silicon business that will focus on contract chip manufacturers for companies outside of Samsung. While it was probably a long time coming, the move couldn't have come at a worse time for Qualcomm, who is now beset by lawsuits from all sides. With Qualcomm begins to show cracks in its armor, Samsung seems to be getting ready to snatch up whatever piece of the pie Qualcomm might drop.

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Chip maker Qualcomm has been having a rough couple of months, not only getting sued by Apple — one of its largest customers — for unfair licensing costs, but also being accused of anti-competitive tactics by the Federal Trade Commission. In the case of the latter, now some of Qualcomm's biggest rivals have chimed in, offering statements to the FTC in support of their monopoly accusations.

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In the past, it was usually dirt simple to differentiate between different smartphone tiers based on what features they had or didn't have. Thanks to the affordability of technologies and components, however, those lines are starting to blur. Qualcomm's latest announcement almost erases those lines. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 and 660 are its latest "mid-range" processors, taking over from the 626 and 653, respectively. But to downplay them just because of that label would be a mistake, as these processors empower with mid-range devices with high-end features.

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The patent fight between Apple and Qualcomm is getting uglier, with the chip-maker now outraged that its legal foe - and customer - is now withholding cash while the two clash in court. Tensions were cranked up to eleven back in January, when Apple accused Qualcomm of forcing unfair licensing fees onto it. Suing the company, it accused it of having "unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with."

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This isn't exactly an earth-shattering revelation. Even if unconfirmed, it is pretty much expected. It is only fitting that Google's premiere smartphones for 2017 will run on Qualcomm's premiere mobile chip platform for 2017. So yes, the Google Pixel 2 will run on the Snapdragon 835, just like any high-end smartphone the second half of the year. Perhaps more interesting, however, are the rumors surrounding these three "by Google" Android smartphones.

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Perhaps there is a perfectly reasonable explanation why Microsoft doesn't seem to be so invested in its Windows 10 Mobile platform or the devices that rely on it. It might, instead, be more interested in getting a full Windows 10 version running on ARM-based devices. Either way, such kinds of devices are really in the works. At least that's what Qualcomm reportedly said at its Q2 2017 earnings call. Though you probably be holding your breath, because even Qualcomm itself doesn't expect things to fall into place until much later this year.

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Qualcomm just can't seem to catch a break. Which is probably the price to pay for being such a successful and high-profile company. While it is still in a tug of war with Apple, it has just announced its loss to BlackBerry in a different but eerily similar case. The two companies have announced that an arbitration panel is requiring Qualcomm to pay BlackBerry $814.9 million. All because BlackBerry says it has actually overpaid Qualcomm some patent royalties.

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Qualcomm is probably the largest maker of mobile processors in the market, which pretty much means it has a large target painted on its back. It isn't a stranger to lawsuits, even those brought against it by government. But when Apple joined the fray, it took on a slightly different story. Last January, Apple sued Qualcomm for, among other things, unfair licensing costs and retaliation. Now Qualcomm is fighting back with claims of its own, saying that Apple was, in fact, the one using shady tactics to harm Qualcomm's business.

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