This week the latest in Qualcomm Snapdragon processor tech appeared in a benchmark that shows mobile processing performance. This benchmark is not the end-all be-all of tests of this sort of thing, but it's a pretty OK test of general performance. What we're seeing here is the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip out-performing Apple's latest processor by a significant margin.
Remember the Fairphone? It was one of the less eccentric attempts at a modular smartphone that focuses more on replacing integral components rather than some inessential addons. Unfortunately, the last Fairphone sold was the Fairphone 2 back in 2015 and we barely heard anything from in since its first modular camera launch last year. Now the company is making headlines once more by pushing an Android 7.0 Nougat update to the smartphone, making it the first and so far only phone running on a Snapdragon 801 to get the not so latest Android update.
For whatever business and legal reasons, Samsung has long made two variants of its flagship devices. One was powered by its own Exynos processor while other markets got Qualcomm’s equivalent Snapdragon chip. Other than that, those two variants are functionally equal, with Samsung sometimes even disabling features for the two versions to be on equal footing. Next year’s Galaxy S10, however, might be a bit different because the difference between the two variants could go beyond just the processor and include even the logic board could be substantially different.
There are a lot of new trends in the smartphone market these days but most if not all of them are, unsurprisingly, happening on the high-end. Samsung, however, has pledged to focus its innovative (alternatively, crazy) new features in its mid-range line, as seen on the new Galaxy A7 and A9 with triple and quadruple cameras, respectively. Now it seems that Qualcomm is laying the groundwork for other OEMs to follow suit with a new mid-range Snapdragon 675 that promises to deliver the processing power necessary to implement those features.
Samsung has taken the wraps off the Galaxy Book 2, a new 2-in-1 running Windows 10 and powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 850. As with other Windows on Arm machines we've seen, the big selling points for the Galaxy Book 2 are battery life and always-on connectivity, courtesy of the Snapdragon chipset's LTE modem.
The 810 came after the 800 and the 820 came after the 810. You’d expect that the series would go 830 then 840. Qualcomm, however, jump from 820 to 835 to 845. The next one after that will be 8150. Confused yet? You won’t be alone but that might be the marketing that Qualcomm will be employing when it unveils its next premium mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8150, not the Snapdragon 855.
Microsoft’s and Qualcomm’s campaign to get Windows 10 running on ARM-based Snapdragon chips has mostly fallen flat on its face. While the idea of power efficient, always on, and always connected PCs is undoubtedly tempting, the execution was sorely lacking, especially when it came to banking on last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. The new Snapdragon 850 aims to correct that, presuming it goes in actual commercial products, but it will be the Snapdragon 1000, a.k.a. Snapdragon 8180, that may finally make those dreams come true.
Time waits for no-one, and in smartwatch terms that means the Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 is long overdue. The latest chipset for Wear OS by Google wearables, it picks up where its predecessor left off, only with the promise of better performance, more flexible displays, and significantly longer battery life. Read on for five things you need to know.
Verizon made their first-ever 5G NR call on a commercial network with a simulated smartphone device. Verizon's most recent test in the 5G space also tipped a hat to its side-news launch of 5G residential broadband service in four US markets. This Verizon 5G news came right on the heels of AT&T's big 5G announcement at AT&T Spark - they'll be expanding in a big way, too.
This morning at AT&T Spark, the mobile data company named a bunch of cities to which it planned to bring 5G data speeds. This comes on top of news that AT&T deployed its first mobile 5G cell site and expanded its 5G reach from its first 7 cities to an additional 5, all inside the year 2018. Come 2019, AT&T's reach with 5G will spread to a bunch more cities across the United States.
Montblanc has revealed its newest smartwatch, the Summit 2, powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. Announced in San Francisco, CA today, the Summit 2 follows the original Summit luxury smartwatch, launched back in early 2017.
Qualcomm promised some big news in smartwatch chips, and the Snapdragon Wear 3100 is just that. Bringing a long-awaited update to the company's wearable-focused silicon, the new platform promises to be more powerful and more power-efficient, with a number of big names in smartwatches already signed on.