Snapdragon

Don't be turned off by the VR-like imagery in this article - this goes way beyond games, VR, and AR. Qualcomm-made headsets are about to get simple, easy to use, and able to be utilized in a number of different ways. If what Qualcomm's got onboard with "Qualcomm Boundless XR for PC" is plausible, there'll be no need for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, or mobile VR headsets of any sort. Those brands might just be using Qualcomm's tech to replace what they've got today with what's common tomorrow.

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Qualcomm's refrain may have been "5G, 5G, 5G" the last few months, but it's sneaking in some robots among its Mobile World Congress 2019 news. Qualcomm Technologies is announcing the Qualcomm Robotics RB3 Platform, a Snapdragon-based set of hardware and software intended to make building smart robots easier.

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5G smartphones won't be in short supply at Mobile World Congress 2019 next week, but Qualcomm is already announcing its second-generation 5G modem, the Snapdragon X55. Successor to the Snapdragon X50 that, along with the Snapdragon 855 chipset, is expected to be at the heart of the first round of 5G Android devices, the new modem is arguably even more important.

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Qualcomm may have the lion's share of the mobile CPU market, its reign is anything but secure. Samsung and Huawei have proven up to the task and Apple continues to embarrass it in both benchmarks and courts. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, long-time rival MediaTek has been the go-to for budget devices. Now it seems that the chip maker is taking steps to ensure that it will be the favored supplier even on low-tier devices like Android Go phones with an upcoming new QM215 chipset.

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As of today, Qualcomm has five distinct "mobile platform" lines manufacturers can choose from for every smartphone tier. There's the entry-level Snapdragon 200, the mid-range 400, the "premium" 600, the high-end 800, and the newest kid on the block, the 700 series. Launched just last year, the Snapdragon 700, followed by the 710, was unexpected and odd and few OEMs have jumped onboard. Of course, that hasn't stopped Qualcomm from putting out this year's chip, the Snapdragon 712, with just a little performance boost and a Quick Charge version that barely anyone uses.

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The newest photos of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus suggest to us that we might want to wait for the Galaxy Note 10. The front, back, and sides of these devices look a whole lot like their predecessors, and the technology under the hood - what we know so far - isn't particularly game-changing. That is to say UNLESS these minor details give us clues as to the true nature of what's still hidden.

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Even before it's officially launched, the Galaxy S10 is already earning mixed "reviews". And we're not just talking about controversial punch holes and in-screen fingerprint scanners here. The past few days have witnessed the appearance of benchmarks for both the Galaxy S10 as well as its processors, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and Samsung Exynos 9820. The numbers vary depending on the source but one thing they all seem to have in common is that they fall below the iPhone XS and Apple's A12 processor. As disappointing as that may sound for Android and Samsung fans, in the end, those benchmark scores really don't matter.

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As the mobile platform on which almost all of this year’s high-end smartphones will stand, it’s only natural to hope that the Snapdragon 855 will be everything that Qualcomm is hyping it up to be. The chipmaker’s near silence since unveiling the system-on-chip in early December is almost worrying, as if it wasn’t yet ready to release the chips to manufacturers, much less users’ eyes. Now that CES 2019 is done, however, Qualcomm has finally lifted its own embargo on benchmarks and the numbers look promising.

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The latest in the Apple Qualcomm squabble is a testimony from the iPhone maker, suggesting that Qualcomm's not been keen on supplying chips since their FTC trial began. Apple COO Jeff Williams testified during the US Federal Trade Commission trial against Qualcomm, suggesting that it seems as though once Apple filed (several) lawsuits against Qualcomm, Qualcomm's been unwilling to "support [Apple] with new design wins past that time."

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The Lenovo Z5s was revealed today alongside the slightly more impressive Z5 Pro GT. The Lenovo Z5s might look familiar to you - and it should, if you're a keen watcher of the worldwide smartphone release market. This device looks a whole lot like the Huawei P20 Pro - but it's just a LITTLE bit different - on the inside, at least.

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Chrome OS should have been Google’s ticket back into the tablet and productivity world. Indeed, its Pixel Slate announcement was filled with rhetoric about how real computers have real desktop browsers. But while the Pixel Slate fared mostly fine in early reviews when it came to the hardware, there was were some lingering doubts about its overall utility. The uncertainty and doubt might not be over for the platform if its first Snapdragon-powered Chromebook, the one codenamed “cheza”, is as terrible as these first benchmark scores seem to imply.

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Microsoft has ditched Intel and will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset for the upcoming next-generation HoloLens, but it's not the one you might have expected. The hotly-anticipated augmented reality headset is shaping up to dramatically improve the blending of virtual objects with the real-world, but of course all of that demands power - and power efficiency.

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