Qualcomm News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

A few years ago, MediaTek garnered its popularity through its Helio lineup of chipsets that were found in mid-range and affordable smartphones. The Taiwanese firm had cemented its position firmly in this category, but it was believed that the company could not match the likes of Qualcomm in the flagship silicon space.

After weeks of anticipation, the Xiaomi 14 series has been launched in India today, March 5. The Chinese tech giant is bringing two smartphones to India - Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Xiaomi 14, as part of its flagship smartphone lineup. Prior to launch, Xiaomi was expected to launch just the base smartphone in India but the company has sprung a positive surprise by bringing its flagship model to the Indian market as well. From features to price, know all about the Xiaomi 14 series.

Microsoft has been speculated to launch its new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 in March with rumors hinting at massive upgrades. The company may also unveil its artificial intelligence (AI) updates and features alongside the launch of its Surface devices. While the Windows 11 AI updates are still far from their official launch, these two devices are expected to be Microsoft's first AI PCs. With powerful upgrades and AI features, the Microsoft Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are said to give neck-to-neck competition to iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. Know more about the device's launch date and specifications.

Apple’s iron grip on the ARM notebook and desktop space might be coming to an end, starting with Qualcomm and its Snapdragon X Elite. However, one rumor claims that Huawei is another player to enter this space, and there are claims that the former Chinese giant has already developed a competitor to the M1. Then again, the company might have obtained dependency from a slew of foreign companies in a bid to jumpstart its smartphone business, starting with the Kirin 9000S, but that does not mean that there are no other hurdles that need to be scaled.

Qualcomm is apparently on track to supply its phone partners with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 just in time for the company to make the flagship chipset’s announcement in October. The latest rumor doing the rounds claims that the SoC will be finalized in April, with samples expected to be shipped to OEMs by June. This should give companies sufficient time to ready their high-end smartphones for next year with Qualcomm’s first 3nm silicon. The rumor also dives into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 specifications, which we will discuss at length here.

It typically takes Qualcomm several months before announcing the Snapdragon Summit, where it will unveil its top-tier chipset that will power the premium smartphones that will arrive the following year. However, things were outright different on this occasion, as the company CMO put out a video stating that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which will be the San Diego firm’s first silicon to launch with proper in-house Oryon cores, will be announced in October.

The Snapdragon X Elite is slated to power a slew of notebooks in mid-2024, but before the first products materialize, Qualcomm decided to show off a bit when it comes to image generation. The company placed its flagship SoC tailor-made for portable machines and put it up against Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H, which offers a 16-core configuration and is designed to excel in multi-threaded workloads. However, when both chips are running Stable Diffusion 1.5, the Snapdragon X Elite does not just obtain the upper hand but also runs circles around its newest competitor regarding AI image generation.

A smartphone operating system’s popularity stems from its large app ecosystem, providing a massive repository of programs that can run on mobile devices seamlessly, but suppose all of that work was done by AI instead of applications that had to be downloaded through a dedicated store? Deutsche Telekom believes that in the future, smartphones will rely on artificial intelligence instead of apps for task completion and has collaborated with T-Mobile and Qualcomm to showcase a concept smartphone that runs just AI.

The name "Vivo" isn't unfamiliar regarding ground-breaking innovation in the smartphone market. Vivo is well-known for creating disruptive smartphones with distinctive and original looks and technology that set industry norms. Vivo pioneered once-ubiquitous pop-up cameras and, currently- the in-display fingerprint scanners.

Succeeding the Snapdragon X75, Qualcomm today announced the new Snapdragon X80 5G modem, which the company labels as being the first AI-powered gigabit modem in the world. During the unveiling, the San Diego mentioned the use of AI and how the Snapdragon X80 would leverage this feature to not only increase reception quality and accuracy but also lower power consumption. Here are all the details you should know.

Latest benchmarks of Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X Elite CPU have leaked out in its 12-core variation which is on par with modern AMD & Intel chips.

Samsung appears to have failed in its quest to secure large customers for its 3nm GAA process, with TSMC having the upper hand as it reportedly aims to reach production of its next-generation node to 100,000 monthly wafers by the end of 2024. To combat its biggest foundry rival, instead of finding a way to increase its 3nm yields. Samsung is apparently focusing on its 2nm technology, and according to the latest report, the next Exynos SoC is supposedly being tested on this lithography.

The new Cortex-X5 design from ARM appears to be running into problems, with a new rumor stating that the super core is experiencing severely high power consumption at raised clock speeds and offering diminished multi-core performance when that maximum power limit is reduced. While this may not be an issue for Qualcomm as its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to adopt custom CPU designs, MediaTek may be sweating profusely as it has to eventually announce the Dimensity 9400, which is said to adopt the same Cortex-X5 in its CPU cluster.

Samsung and TSMC have locked horns in the 2nm chip race, with both foundry giants earlier said to be preparing samples for Qualcomm on the next-generation lithography. However, when it comes to securing actual orders, the Korean giant obtains a win in that column by bringing a Japanese startup into the fold. It is said that this research firm decided to skip TSMC for its 2nm technology, and we have a few reasons why it would make this decision.

The Snapdragon X Elite is closer to its official release, as Qualcomm CEO Christiano Amon stated during the San Diego firm’s earnings call that its new chipset is tailor-made for Windows laptops and will arrive in mid-2024. This essentially means that Apple and its M-series of custom silicon will have a new competitor to worry about, and according to earlier benchmarks, we have seen some impressive performance numbers.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 launch is yet to start, and we have already started stumbling across Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 rumors. Earlier, we reported that Qualcomm requested TSMC and Samsung for their 2nm chip samples, presumably for vetting purposes to see if one or both can be a fit for future cutting-edge chipset orders. Now, we have learned that while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 may share the same CPU cluster, the latter is said to feature new ‘Pegasus’ CPU cores.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will exclusively be mass produced on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process, but its successor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, might switch to a dual-foundry approach as Qualcomm reportedly looks to secure orders from both Samsung and its Taiwanese semiconductor rival. The San Diego chipset maker has apparently requested both companies to provide 2nm samples, which can be evaluated further.

Qualcomm will be shifting away from the traditional ARM CPU designs later this year when it announces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in the fourth quarter. There is immense significance surrounding this smartphone chipset for two primary reasons. One is that it will be the first silicon to adopt the company’s custom Oryon cores that Qualcomm announced back in 2022, and these designs would not have been possible without the Nuvia acquisition.

It looks like consumer GPUs from AMD, NVIDIA, Apple & Qualcomm aren't safe from vulnerabilities, as experts have reportedly discovered a threat known as "LeftoverLocals" that can extract data from the GPU's memory.

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The official Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 specification slides revealed that its single Cortex-X4 core had a maximum clock speed of 3.30GHz. However, Qualcomm is working with a Samsung-exclusive ‘Snapdragon 8 Gen for Galaxy’ where the SoC is clocked slightly higher than the default configuration. However, according to the latest rumor, two versions are being tested, and your luck in getting the faster variant depends entirely on where you live.

Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of mobile phone processors, announced the Snapdragon XR2 chip designed for virtual and mixed reality headsets that will compete with Apple Inc.'s forthcoming Vision Pro.

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The Snapdragon X Elite was announced in late October, and shortly after, Apple countered with its first 3nm chipsets for the Mac lineup, the M3, M3 Pro, and the M3 Max, which also launched in the same month. The San Diego firm has come out with a bold statement now, claiming that its latest SoC is up to 21 percent faster than the M3 in multi-core performance. However, despite supposedly having the edge, a Qualcomm PR manager says that the experience will be different, and that has to do with both chipsets powering different operating systems.

Qualcomm & Apple have some very compelling ARM-based solutions that are primed to tackle AMD & Intel in the AI PC segment in 2024.

TSMC only had one customer for its 3nm ‘N3B’ process, which was Apple, but in 2024, a new report states that the semiconductor manufacturer is expected to witness a double-digit increase in revenue for this category as it aims to add more partners for its long-supported cutting-edge node. With this growth, the company’s 3nm wafer production is also said to reach 100,000 monthly units by the end of next year.

Apple recently renewed its 5G licensing agreement with Qualcomm because it continues to face development challenges with its in-house solution. With the contiguous delays, the technology giant will reportedly not launch the custom 5G modem by the end of 2025 or early 2026, with the first batch likely debuting in the new iPhones. However, even with the launch being successful, a new report states that Apple will continue to rely on Qualcomm’s 5G modems, but not necessarily for the iPhone.

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AMD is reportedly working with Samsung & Qualcomm to bring FSR "FidelityFX Super Resolution" technology to future smartphones.

Qualcomm recently posted its fourth-quarter earnings, and despite a slowing smartphone market, the San Diego firm managed to beat expectations. While the company might have narrowly avoided a pummeling in this three-month period, there are a myriad of challenges that await the chipset maker going into 2024, with Huawei likely on the top of that list. Fortunately, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon stated in the earnings call that these events and the emergence of another player will not affect its relationship with other smartphone brands in China.

Last week, Qualcomm announced its plans to meet AMD and Intel head-on in the PC market, with the launch of its impressive looking Snapdragon X Elite processor. Little was said about the integrated GPU, though, so how well it would fare in gaming was a bit of a mystery. Not anymore, as Qualcomm recently let a host of journalists test some games and the results are promising.

Qualcomm has provided even more benchmarks of its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite PC CPU featuring the Oryon core architecture.

MAUI, Hawaii—At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2023, PCMag sat down with two of the company’s senior leaders for a conversation around the star attraction of the first day’s keynote: Snapdragon X Elite, the first PC-compute iteration of the company’s new Snapdragon X family of mobile processors. Qualcomm has made some bold performance and efficiency claims around X Elite. They stand in stark contrast to the relative paucity of Snapdragon laptop-processor design wins to date (compared with Qualcomm's commanding position in smartphone chips). Many of the initial claims throw down the gauntlet to today’s big-three laptop chip makers (AMD, Apple, and Intel).

The whole Arm-versus-x86 thing just got a lot more interesting. Qualcomm has announced its much anticipated new Snapdragon X Elite SoC. Designed specifically for laptop PCs, it's the first significant output of Qualcomm's Apple-influenced Nuvia subsidiary, debuts a brand new CPU core architecture known as Oryon and comes with performance claims that are fairly eye popping.

Qualcomm has finally unveiled the full details & benchmarks of its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite CPU for upcoming Windows PCs which will tackle Apple, Intel, and AMD.

MAUI, Hawaii—At the opening keynote of the 2023 Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm representatives broke out the speeds and feeds in force and detailed the first SoC in the company's Snapdragon X Elite line, powered by its much-anticipated next-gen CPU core, code-named "Oryon." Teased earlier in the month, “Snapdragon X” is the branding for Qualcomm’s newest SoCs for PC compute, and the Snapdragon Elite X is the first issue, positioned as its premium solution. Outfitted for AI local processing and packing a host of efficiency-minded innovations, the Snapdragon X Elite built on Oryon is, according to Qualcomm, the punchiest processor for laptops that it has ever produced.

Qualcomm showed off two new computing platforms this week at its annual Snapdragon Summit that promise to put generative AI into laptops, phones, and more.

Qualcomm on Tuesday announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, its premium system-on-a-chip for mobile devices. The 8 Gen 3 will be the engine behind the leading Android phones and tablets over the coming year. Much like last year's 8 Gen 2, the new SoC banks on AI to set it apart from competing chips. What's different is that Qualcomm is pushing generative AI in particular directly onto devices for faster and more secure results.

Qualcomm previewed a new feature at its Snapdragon Summit in Maui that promises a less fractured multiple-device lifestyle—as long as those devices run Android or Windows. 

MAUI—Qualcomm says its newest Snapdragon Sound technology will bring premium audio experiences to the next generation of mobile headphones.

The x86 CPU architecture has dominated the PC market since dinosaurs roamed the land but there's been a flurry of rumours concerning efforts by AMD and Nvidia to battle Qualcomm head-on, preparing Arm-powered CPUs for Windows computers in 2025.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is said to arrive with the Adreno 750 GPU, and according to previously leaked test results, the graphics processor was upwards of 80 percent faster than the Adreno 740 found in the current-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Unfortunately, that performance gap might reduce slightly from commercial units, as a new rumor claims that the Adreno 750 might be downclocked, with Qualcomm likely targeting a new threshold in power efficiency.

Qualcomm and Google have partne red to develop a RISC-V wearable solution for use with smart watches based on the Wear OS by Google.

Qualcomm is said to trim its workforce by 2.5 percent, with the layoffs reportedly happening in its Santa Clara and San Diego offices. After previously laying off 415 employees, the chipset manufacturer is being forced to reduce its personnel headcount once more. Industry experts have commented that the comeback mounted by Huawei, along with the failed suppression efforts from the U.S. on China, has affected firms such as Qualcomm, and 2024 is not expected to make things any brighter.

More than a thousand Qualcomm employees are set to lose their jobs in California on or around Dec. 13 this year.

Qualcomm is adopting a new "naming architecture" for the next generation of its consumer and commercial PC platform.

Samsung and TSMC have yet to see yield improvements in their respective 3nm technologies. Though the Taiwanese foundry has already secured Apple as a long-term client, with future SoCs said to be mass produced on the updated N3E process, Samsung’s 3nm GAA node has yet to pick up steam, with a report stating that Qualcomm will not place orders if those yields do not climb to 70 percent.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is reportedly Qualcomm’s first SoC entrant that will ditch ARM’s core designs and switch to custom Oryon cores that have been codenamed Phoenix. Though the new chipset will arrive with a ton of expectations on its shoulders, the latest word on the rumor mill is that the San Diego company appears to be running into power consumption problems with its new silicon. Thankfully, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 unveiling happening before, Qualcomm has plenty of time to tackle these setbacks.

Qualcomm has launched two new chip platforms for Meta’s Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset and its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses.

Virtual reality headsets and smart glasses are about to get a lot snappier thanks to wholly revised platforms from Qualcomm.

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Apple Inc. is extending an agreement to get modem semiconductors from Qualcomm Inc. for three more years, a sign that its ambitious effort to design the chips in-house is taking longer than expected. Qualcomm shares surged on the news.

The U.S. sanctions may have forced Huawei into a corner as far as its smartphone business is concerned, but the Chinese firm has remained relentless and managed to circumvent those trade limitations with the Kirin 9000S, its first custom SoC that materialized after a brief hiatus and is found in the newly released Mate 60 Pro 5G.

Qualcomm’s custom Oryon cores were announced back in 2022 and were positioned to be Apple’s first and only real M-series competitor. Unfortunately, it turns out that developing in-house cores is easier said than done, and though the chipset maker dominates the 5G baseband market, it is rumored to be running into problems in this area, which can potentially delay the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 launch.

Qualcomm has announced a new range of chips aimed squarely at gaming handhelds. The highest spec model, the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, is said to be over twice as fast as its predecessor. So, can it take the fight to the Steam Deck or even AMD's awesome Phoenix APU in handheld's like the Asus ROG Ally?

Qualcomm has announced its follow-up to the Snapdragon G3x chip that powers the Razer Edge — along with two other platforms that serve as the first models to the company's new dedicated lines of Snapdragon gaming chips. Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 is the latest product under the flagship tier, which Qualcomm describes as something "purpose-built for enthusiast features and performance" and can handle the "most demanding cross-platform gaming titles."

Qualcomm's new line of mobile chipsets, the Snapdragon G, is designed specifically for gaming. Revealed at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, the lineup includes three new chips, updating and expanding from the single G3x Gen 1 found on the Razer Edge tablet released earlier this year.

Qualcomm has announced today that its flagship Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF system has managed to break another carrier of download speed as it has managed to set a new world record while using the sub-6GHz spectrum. The modem managed to achieve a whopping 7.5 Gbps downlink speed.

This year, only Apple is said to unveil the world’s first 3nm chip, while Qualcomm is said to stick with TSMC’s N4P process for the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. However, one report from an analyst states that the San Diego company may have to rekindle its partnership with Samsung as it explores the option of dual-sourcing for the development of its own 3nm chip.

There were rumors that Qualcomm would no longer be Apple’s exclusive 5G modem supplier after the iPhone 15 family materialized later this year. However, with the California-based giant experiencing issues with its in-house solution, it gives its chipset manufacturing partner another year to enjoy a large payday as it is said to supply 5G modems to the iPhone 16 lineup too.

Tech industry leaders such as NVIDIA & Intel are now lobbying with the US government in an attempt to ease the intensity of trade sanctions and curbs placed on China.