Snapdragon

Qualcomm has added a new flagship chipset to its smartphone processor line-up, with the Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform promising even more performance than its Snapdragon 865 sibling. As the name - which Qualcomm is also stylizing as "Snapdragon 865+" - suggests, this isn't so much a full revamp of the existing SoC but a way for Qualcomm to massage more power out of it as it looks to new phones for the second half of the year.

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It’s been some time since we’ve seen Qualcomm upgrade its wearable silicon, but today, the company announced that it’s doing just that. Qualcomm has revealed the Snapdragon Wear 4100 series, which comprises the standard 4100 and the 4100+. Like the 3100 series that came before it, the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ is built using Qualcomm’s “hybrid approach” that pairs a main SoC with an always-on co-processor.

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The seemingly unstoppable rise of high-end smartphones seemed to have ground to a halt or at least taken a breather as the entire world finds itself in a very different situation from just six months ago. While expensive smartphones continue to be announced, sales numbers indicate a slight shift in favor of less expensive options, even if they are of the mid-range kind. Perhaps unperturbed by global market trends, Qualcomm is reportedly pushing through its planned new features as well as a new price that consumers will end up shouldering in the long run.

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Apple, as always, made headlines this week with its confirmation that it is indeed moving towards its own ARM-based processors. Of course, it isn't the first major operating system vendor to make such a move, though its one-way journey is more permanent than Microsoft's foray into ARM-based devices. The latter hasn't exactly been a roaring success for a variety of reasons but Qualcomm may soon be giving Microsoft one less reason to blame it on processor performance.

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Today Qualcomm revealed the "world's first 5G and AI-enabled robotics platform" in the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 platform. Qualcomm is basically the biggest brand in the tech industry when it comes to processing chips for smartphones, especially when it comes to Android devices. The Qualcomm Robotics RB5 platform utilizes a variety of brand collaborations between Qualcomm and some of the biggest "ecosystem players" in robotics.

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Qualcomm made a rather surprising revelation when it announced the Snapdragon 690, opening the doors even for mid-range phones to promise support for 5G networks, whether or not it makes sense for some markets. Of course, this smartphone tier is populated by innumerable brands and models that start to look and sound like each other. There are, of course, a few names that stand out in the market, like Motorola's G series and HMD Global's Nokia phones, the latter of which is already gearing up to call dibs on Qualcomm's new mobile platform.

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Qualcomm's relentless plan to put 5G in as many smartphones as possible continues today, with the Snapdragon 690 5G making its debut and promising more affordable options with support for high-speed wireless. The first of the 6-series to offer 5G, the new Snapdragon is expected to show up in phones from LG, Motorola, TCL, and Nokia, among others.

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It seems that the VR and AR pendulum is swinging back to the smartphone side of things. Headsets started out as hulking boxes strapped to your head and wired to a computer but, thanks to Google, some got the idea of shoving a smartphone into that box instead and calling it a day. Realizing the limitations of phones, headset makers like HTC moved away towards standalone devices but may now be moving back to smartphone-powered gear, this time for XR glasses.

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Were you struck by the beauty of the LG Velvet's new design but was put off by either its price or its Snapdragon 700 series chipset. It seems that LG already predicted this kind of reaction and already had a different kind of LG Velvet prepared. In a case of "be careful what you wish for", however, this variant will naturally be cutting corners but the Snapdragon 845 inside might not be as bad as it initially sounds.

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A tip this week on the latest low-cost OnePlus device tips the release date no later than mid-July, 2020. The OnePlus Z, as it's called, was reported to be shown for the first time to the public on July 10, 2020. The only unfortunate bit about this leak of an exact date for reveal is the location - it'll likely be limited to India at first launch. The release date for the rest of the world is still up in the air.

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When consumers hear of 5G and its blazing fast speeds, most will probably think about Netflix and downloads. 5G's full potential, however, isn't limited to just that, of course, and it can enable a whole host of new experiences, including everyone's favorite AR/VR/XR. It's no surprise then that Qualcomm is pushing smartphones powered by its 5G technologies to drive the next wave of lightweight XR headsets that it says will finally arrive sometime within the next year.

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Qualcomm has launched a new midrange gaming-focused smartphone chipset, with the Snapdragon 768G promising 5G along with a speed boost and features cherry-picked from the flagship Snapdragon 865. It's the latest in the Snapdragon series to bear the "G" suffix, which Qualcomm has used to denote its gamer-friendly chips for players on a tighter budget.

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