Qualcomm

Qualcomm just can’t seem to catch a break these days and continues to find itself at the center of controversy. Its biggest headache right now is its fight with Apple over patents and royalties. But it may now be feeling the repercussions of challenging what is also one of its biggest customers. Qualcomm has practically and publicly admitted that Apple’s upcoming iPhones won’t be using its LTE modems. Instead, they will be using Intel’s, which Qualcomm has just recently mocked using Ookla’s Speedtest as evidence.

Continue Reading

Just recently Samsung released a short ad that mocked the iPhone X’s slower download speeds, at least compared to the Galaxy S9. That ad based its boast on Ookla’s recent “Speedtest Intelligence” report. Now that same report is being used by Qualcomm to also flaunt its latest Snapdragon 845 with its latest X20 LTE modem. But while it specifically mentions Intel LTE modems as the target of its campaign, it is also making a slight jab at its latest new enemy: Apple.

Continue Reading

Today, Qualcomm announced a pretty big breakthrough in the realm of 5G hardware. The company revealed that it has developed a fully-integrated 5G NR millimeter wave (mmWave) antenna module, along with sub-6 GHz RF modules for use in smartphones and other devices. This is an exciting development, because while mmWave offers super high frequency (and, in turn, big increases in speed), there are some roadblocks to implementation.

Continue Reading

Oppo has a new Apple AirPods rival, the Oppo O-Free, fully wireless Bluetooth headphones that it'll be offering alongside its unusual Find X Android smartphone. The new headphones cut the cables completely, with no wires between the lozenge-shaped left and right earbuds.

Continue Reading

First the headphone jack disappeared, next the headphone cables altogether: at least, if Qualcomm has its way with a new Bluetooth audio chip. Announced today, the Qualcomm QCC3026 may not have a name that's music to the ears, but it promises to make wireless headphones cheaper and more reliable - to the point where they're likely to supplant the bundled wired headphones most new smartphones include in the box.

Continue Reading

One of the cited reasons for the failure of Wear OS by Google (formerly Android Wear) smartwatches is that they are all running on a two-year old chipset. Considering the Snapdragon Wear 2100 is based on the Snapdragon 400, its technology goes way back to 2013. As promised, Qualcomm is delivering a much-needed and long-overdue update to its wearable platform. But funnily enough, it is marketing the Snapdragon Wear 2500 squarely at the kids’ wearable market, practically making a bet on that market instead of the grownups’ wearable industry.

Continue Reading

There are a few trends in the smartphone market that are trickling down from the expensive, high-end flagships to the affordable mid-range ones. But while bezel-less screens, notched or not, are more dependent on component suppliers, features like AI and support for dual cameras require support in the mobile processor itself. That’s why Qualcomm is launching the new Snapdragon 632, 439, and 429 “mobile platforms” to help mid-tier devices catch up with their more expensive counterparts in features.

Continue Reading

Qualcomm is gradually making its push into the PC processor market, namely with its latest Snapdragon 850, aimed at notebooks. That chip, however, is just a higher-clocked version of the Snapdragon 845, a processor originally designed for smartphones, which means the 850 still doesn't make the cut in keeping up with Intel's CPUs. The much rumored Snapdragon 1000, however, is expected to be a different story.

Continue Reading

From Windows S to the new, somewhat disappointing first generation of always-on Windows 10 on ARM PCs, it is clear that Microsoft is worried. Its once unchallenged kingdom in the education and enterprise markets have been chipped away first by Apple and now by Google and its Chromebooks. The Windows maker is fighting back by trying to combine Windows 10 with hardware that makes mobile devices so useful: always-on connectivity and battery life. But even before Redmond can regain its foothold, it seems that Google will be fighting back with a Chromebook codenamed “Cheza”, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845.

Continue Reading

When you are slapped with a patent lawsuit, one of the best ways to turn the tables is to have those patents invalidated. It is definitely easier and perhaps cheaper than arguing in court that you didn’t infringe on them anyway. Apple is no stranger to that tactic and is now pulling the same strategy on Qualcomm over four of the chip maker’s patents. Those same patents are, of course, the ones that Qualcomm is suing Apple for.

Continue Reading

As Apple and Qualcomm's ongoing legal battle over patent licensing fees continues, the two companies now find themselves before the US International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., with the chipmaker arguing that iPhones with rival Intel modems should be banned from the country. Apple's counter position, however, includes arguing that such a move would be a threat to US national security and the development of 5G.

Continue Reading

Inside the Microsoft HoloLens 2 augmented/mixed-reality headset is tipped the most major appearance of Qualcomm's own XR1 VR chip. This processor isn't technically as powerful as the Qualcomm Snadpragon 845, but according to all the information we have on the XR1 so far, it's made for and capable of running a device just such as this. The hardware itself is tipped to be coming to the market starting in early 2019.

Continue Reading