Snapdragon

For years, Samsung Mobile has been dancing between two mobile processors, the Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm as well as the Exynos from its own sibling, Samsung Electronics LSI. In the past, the difference between the two chips in the same phone models hasn't been that noticeably but that gap seems to be getting wider and wide. Matters have seemed to come to a head this year with the Galaxy S20 and its Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990 variants. According to benchmarks and user testing, the two couldn't be further apart in terms of performance.

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5G is big in mobile but that's not the only place it'll be in, naturally. Desktop and laptop computers are also fair game but only if they have the hardware to slurp from that high-speed network. Most will use external peripherals but Qualcomm is, of course, pushing a new breed of Always On, Always Connected PCs that this year will gain the ability to tap into 5G networks. And to reassure future buyers that they will be getting their money's worth, the chipmaker is listing which network operators will be supporting Snapdragon-powered 5G PCs when they launch this year.

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Qualcomm has revealed its newest 5G mixed reality headset reference design based on the Snapdragon XR2, a wirelessly-connected VR and AR shortcut for manufacturers to bring new models to market. While it may look a whole lot like the XR1 reference design, this new version adds in 5G connectivity and higher-resolution displays, among other improvements.

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The next Redmi smartphone (from the Xiaomi spin-off Redmi) is officially called the Redmi K30 Pro. This device was teased a couple of times by the official Redmi account on Weibo, a major microblogging service where many China-centric brands provide insight to fans and potential users alike. There, Redmi’s Lu Weibing showed a bit of the next big 5G smartphone this week.

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Some might be wondering what a smartphone processor, often regarded as the CPU, has to do with recording in 8K. No matter how powerful these large imaging sensors become, they can't do all the work themselves and needs a separate imaging processor to, well, process the data. On a smartphone, that fall in the domain of the System-on-Chip and Qualcomm is only too happy to show how its latest Snapdragon 865 can enable 8K video recording even using something like a 48 megapixel Sony IMX586.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Just last week, Qualcomm unveiled the processors, what it calls platforms, that will power the next generation of Android smartphones for 2020 and maybe even beyond. Unsurprisingly, 5G was a core focus not just of the flagship Snapdragon 865 platform but also the "premium" Snapdragon 765. Of course, that started a guessing game of which phones will be the first to put either of those two inside and it seems that Xiaomi's Redmi subsidiary has beaten everyone to the punch, not just with the first Snapdragon 765 but the first Snapdragon 765G phone.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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