Qualcomm has unveiled its new Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform, the first mobile platform in the company's 700-tier portfolio. The 710 Mobile Platform, Qualcomm explains, will bring certain "premium-tier" features to a wider mobile audience. The new chip will offer better performance in areas that include artificial intelligence, connectivity, camera capture, battery life, and more.
Qualcomm will be revealing its new Snapdragon XR1 chipset for standalone virtual and augmented reality headsets next week, at least according to sources leaking the plans. The sources claim the announcement could come as soon as next week, though it may be bumped to a later date. We might see the chipset unveiled during Augmented World Expo in California.
Google is reportedly developing a standalone Augmented Reality headset to take on Microsoft HoloLens, a cable-free system that does not require a tethered PC to drive it. The rumors come after the launch of the first standalone Daydream headset, the Lenovo Mirage Solo, which packages a full virtual reality system into a single wearable.
Smartwatches come in all shapes and sizes but most of them have one thing in common: woefully outdated hardware. This is specially true with wearables bearing Google's Wear OS, formerly known as Android Wear, which mostly run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100. Even when it launched way back in 2016, the chipset was already unremarkable. Fortunately for wearable fans, Qualcomm, unlike Intel, isn't yet quitting the market and is preparing a third gen wearable system-on-chip that could give Wear OS smartwatches an edge over their rivals, particularly the Apple Watch.
Although Android P has been in developer preview for about two months now, Qualcomm nicely timed its announcement of support for the next Android release on Google I/O 2018. Its commitment to Android P is both reassuring and, at the same time, puzzling. Because despite showing eagerness on its part to expedite Android updates, it might mean squat for Android users who have to deal not only with OEMs' separate schedules but also with Snapdragon-powered smartphones that aren't supported by this Android P fast track.
Rumor has it Facebook is aiming to create their own semiconductors in the near future. That's chips, processors - the things in your smartphone that make it able to think. If Facebook did indeed take up arms to create chips, they'd be going up against competition like Samsung, Qualcomm, AMD, Intel, and a few more that'll be getting into the game soon - think Apple.
Huawei is probably thanking its lucky stars that it got off easy. The US government might be working to block sales and use of its products in the country, but it remains unhindered in making such products and selling them elsewhere, even indirectly in the US. Unfortunately for ZTE, it might be facing the worst challenge to its smartphone business yet. And while this single instance could be justified in some way, the sanctions imposed by the US government could pose problems for the entire mobile industry it left unchecked.
Fortnite's going to have a whole lot of hardware to roll on whenever it gets to Android. First the Razer Phone, now the Xiaomi Black Shark are both ready and raring to go at the dawn of this new mobile gaming renaissance. At this very moment we don't yet have access to the latter device - but we've got the specs, so you know what that means: pre-battle spec fight!!
The first confirmed hardware details of the OnePlus 6 have begun to spill, with the popular Android smartphone maker announcing what will be at the core of the upcoming handset. In the process, it has confirmed rumors that the OnePlus 6 will be a direct competitor to flagship smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S9 and the iPhone X.
The first reviews of the first Windows 10 on Qualcomm Snapdragon devices are out and they are anything but flattering. Microsoft and Qualcomm nearly promised the moon and more, which made not a few rather dubious if they could pull it off. And it seems those doubts were well-founded. Perhaps trying to do some damage control, Qualcomm has released three new ads that showcase the advantages of software and hardware combination, without actually addressing reviewers’ biggest complaints.
While VR and AR seem to have taken a backseat at CES and MWC, advocates and supporters are now making up for lost time. HTC has just revealed details of its VIVE Pro headset and Google has listed some of the new ARCore 1.0 apps available. Now Qualcomm is following suit, announcing its latest VR development kit, boasting of the latest VR technologies you can find in a standalone headset. And, of course, all of this revolves around the capabilities of the Snapdragon 845 mobile platform.
Just a few weeks ago, Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 845 mobile VR platform. With its success in putting the Snapdragon platform at the center of a lot of smartphones out there, mobile VR seems to be a logical next step, but Qualcomm won't be going it alone. Today we're learning of new partnership between Qualcomm and Tobii that implements eye tracking in mobile VR/AR hardware.