Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today unveiled the Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 Mobile Connectivity system, the first to deliver AI-optimized performance and integrate Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, and Ultra Wideband technologies in a single chip. Utilizing AI, FastConnect 7900 adapts to specific use cases and environments, delivering meaningful optimizations across power consumption, network latency and throughput. FastConnect 7900 integrates Ultra Wideband technology, Wi-Fi Ranging, and Bluetooth Channel Sounding to create a powerful suite of proximity technologies that enable security rich device discovery, access, and control.

Adding to its technical prowess, FastConnect 7900 leverages a new class of RF front-end modules, and next-generation implementation of High Band Simultaneous technology, a key Wi-Fi 7 era innovation at the heart of multi-device experiences and foundational to Qualcomm Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) and Snapdragon Seamless experiences.

Smartphone chipset industry watchdogs believe that the Samsung 3 nm GAA process did not meet customer expectations, due to alleged yield issues. TSMC is seemingly victorious in this segment, as reports suggest that a next-generation 3 nm node production goal of "100,000 monthly wafers by the end of 2024" has been set. Three days ago, Samsung Foundry revealed that it is working on a very advanced SF2 GAAFET process—press outlets in South Korea propose that the manufacturing giant is hoping to outmuscle its main rival in a future 2 nm node category. Tuesday's press introduction stated that a development partnership is set: "to deliver optimized next generation ARM Cortex -X CPU developed on Samsung Foundry's latest Gate-All-Around (GAA) process technology."

A Sedaily article posits that the company's cutting-edge manufacturing tech has already attracted interest from notable parties: "Samsung Electronics is taking advantage of these advantages to win orders for the 2 nm project. Samsung Electronics took its first step by winning an order to produce a 2 nm AI accelerator from Preferred Networks (PFN), Japan's largest AI company. Qualcomm, the world's largest system semiconductor design company, has entered into discussions with Samsung Electronics' System LSI Division, which designs high-performance chips, to produce 2 nm prototypes." December 2023 news reports suggested that Samsung leadership was considering a 2 nm wafer price discount—in order to stay competitive with competing foundry services. It is possible that Qualcomm is evaluating the 2 nm SF2 GAAFET process for a distant Snapdragon 8 "Gen 5" chipset, while Samsung LSI could be working on a 2 nm "Exynos 2600" SoC design.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is a high performance Arm SoC designed to compete with Apple M3, with Windows 11 thin and light notebooks and Chromebooks being its main target devices. Microsoft pins a lot of hope in chips such as the Snapdragon 8cx series as they offer comparable performance and battery life to the current crop of M3 MacBooks. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since Windows RT, and the latest crop of Windows 11 for Arm has a much wider PC application support base thanks to official translation layers by Microsoft. CPUID has an Arm64 version of the popular CPU-Z utility, which correctly detects all the specs of the Snapdragon 8cx, but more importantly, has a Bench tab that can test the single- and multithreaded performance of the CPU.

A Chinese tech enthusiast wasted no time in putting the Snapdragon 8cx through this CPU-Z internal benchmark, and found surprisingly good performance numbers. The single-threaded bench, which loads one of chip's four Arm Cortex-X1C P-cores, registers a score of 543.7 points. This is roughly comparable to that of the AMD "Zen 2" or Intel "Comet Lake" x86-64 core. The multithreaded test, which saturates all four P-cores, and all four Cortex-A78C E-cores, springs up 3479.7 points, which again compares to entry/mainstream x86-64 processors from AMD or Intel. Not impressed? How about the fact that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is a 7 W chip that idles under 2 W for the most part, and can make do with passive cooling, posting scores comparable to 35 W x86 chips that need active cooling?

A mysterious Qualcomm Snapdragon "SM8635" model emerged earlier this month—courtesy of ever reliable smartphone tech tipster Digital Chat Station. They claimed that the unnamed mobile chipset had posted an AnTuTu score of roughly 1.7 million, with specifications including one Cortex-X4 core clocked at 2.9 GHz and an integrated Adreno 735 GPU. TSMC's 4 nm process node was also mentioned—not a particularly big revelation since the latest Snapdragon flagship is a 4 nm part. Early guess work pointed to possible Snapdragon 8s Gen 2 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Lite guises, but a Geekbench Browser leak indicates that SM8635 is destined to become "Snapdragon 8s Gen 3," in Digital Chat Station's opinion.

A Realme "RMX3851" android device was tested in Geekbench 6.2.2—stated specifications include a 3.01 GHz "Big" Core clock, Adreno 735 GPU, and a 1+3+4 cluster configuration. Many believe that the SM8635 is positioned as a cut-down alternative to Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SM8650-AB), given that Realme specializes in producing value-oriented "near flagship" specced smartphones. Wccftech has spent hands-on time with various Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered devices: "You can see in (Realme's Geekbench entry) that the alleged Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 does not perform on the same level as its elder brother, which scores higher in both single and multi-core. For the sake of reference, I have seen the elder sibling going as high as 2,329 in single-core tests and 7,501 in multi-core tests. So, this chipset is performing at half the speed, but of course, this seems like a device that is not completely ready, so the final scores might improve." Further (insider) leaks or an official Qualcomm announcement will confirm whether the posited "Snapdragon 8s Gen 3" moniker is a good guess, although another leaked chip suggests another path. Roland Quandt reckons that a similarly configured "SM7675" SoC will be joining the Snapdragon 7 Gen family.

During a January 31 Earnings Call, Cristiano Renno Amon (President and CEO of Qualcomm) discussed the upcoming launch of his company's Snapdragon X Elite processor—an ARM-based SoC that is built "for AI" on next generation tablets, notebooks and ultra-slim laptops. The twelve onboard custom Oryon cores are part of a package that will become (in marketing terms): "the most powerful, intelligent, and efficient processor ever created for Windows in its class. With cutting edge responsiveness, navigate demanding multi-tasking workloads across productivity, creativity, immersive entertainment, and more..." Amon and his executive colleagues are targeting a middle-of-2024 launch of Snapdragon X Elite-powered devices, he also mentioned a next-gen version of Microsoft's operating system in the same sentence: "We're tracking to the launch of products with this chipset tied with the next version of Microsoft Windows that has a lot of the Windows AI capabilities. We're still maintaining the same date, which is driven by Windows, which is mid-2024, getting ready for back-to-school."

The rumor mill has "Windows 12" marked down for a summer 2024 launch period—last December, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported on a number sources within the PC manufacturing industry—alluding to a June release date. Intel Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner relayed a similar schedule to a Citi interviewer (reported by PC Gamer): "We actually think '24 is going to be a pretty good year for client, in particular, because of the Windows refresh. And we still think that the installed base is pretty old and does require a refresh and we think next year may be the start of that, given the Windows catalyst. So we're optimistic about how things will play out beginning in '24."

Cristiano Renno Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm, discussed the successful launch of his company's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform during a January 31 Earnings Call—expectations have been set high for the flagship smartphone chipset: "(bringing) a new standard for on-device gen AI experiences for premium smartphones and powers all through flagship Android devices launched and launching this fiscal year." Amon highlighted Samsung's recently rolled out Galaxy S24 Ultra range, that makes use of a special "For Galaxy" Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. Industry watchdogs have continued to question Samsung's reliance on third-party processor solutions (including MediaTek Dimensity parts), despite having access to plenty of "worthy" in-house technology. Their flagship Exynos 2400 chip has been deployed with the Galaxy S24 Plus range, but Qualcomm Snapdragon-equipped devices offer better performance and efficiency.

The picky segment of Samsung's smartphone userbase will be pleased to hear about a renewed agreement between it and Qualcomm, which includes a trickling down to mid-range offerings—Amon made a big announcement during the late January conference call: "We're also announcing that we extended a multi-year agreement with Samsung relating to Snapdragon platforms for flagship Galaxy smartphone launches starting in 2024. The extended agreement demonstrates the value of Snapdragon 8, our technology leadership and our successful long-term strategic partnership with Samsung. In the quarter, we also announced the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 mobile platform, which brings leading gen AI capabilities to high-tier Android smartphones and is a category leader in both experiences and performance." Going forward, Samsung is likely sticking with its current operating model of peppering a mix of Snapdragon and Exynos chipsets throughout its Galaxy Z, S and A product ranges.

Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the appointment of Akash Palkhiwala to the expanded role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his CFO responsibilities, as COO, he will now have oversight for the global go-to-market organization and operations, and IT. Palkhiwala's appointment will be effective immediately and he will continue to report directly to Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "I'm pleased to expand Akash's CFO role to include that of Chief Operating Officer as Qualcomm executes on its growth and diversification strategy," said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm. "Akash has played a key role in the execution of our business strategy as Qualcomm has expanded into new end markets, and is ideally positioned to further align the company's operations to capture future growth opportunities. I am thrilled to congratulate Akash on this expanded role."

Palkhiwala has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2019. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and finance lead for QCT, Qualcomm's semiconductor business. Palkhiwala joined Qualcomm in 2001, and during this time has held several finance leadership roles including Treasurer, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Corporate Development. Palkhiwala holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering in India and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced that the premium Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy is powering Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s latest flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra globally and Galaxy S24 Plus and S24 in select regions. The Samsung Galaxy S24 series introduces Galaxy AI, taking advantage of the new and enhanced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, the titan of intelligence and leader in performance and power efficiency.

"We're proud to continue working alongside Samsung to lead this new era for the mobile industry and provide consumers with extraordinary premium experiences," said Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handset, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy instills its advanced AI capabilities in the Galaxy S24 series, to enable new experiences with AI features to empower users' everyday life. It also fuels advanced professional-quality camera, gaming experiences and ultra-fast connectivity including Wi-Fi 71, plus offers one of the most reliable authentication solutions available with our Qualcomm 3D Sonic Gen 2 technology."

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24, unleashing new mobile experiences with Galaxy AI. Galaxy S series leads the way into a new era that will forever change how mobile devices empower users. AI amplifies nearly every experience on Galaxy S24 series, from enabling barrier-free communication with intelligent text and call translations, to maximizing creative freedom with Galaxy's ProVisual Engine, to setting a new standard for search that will change how Galaxy users discover the world around them.

"The Galaxy S24 series transforms our connection with the world and ignites the next decade of mobile innovation," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. "Galaxy AI is built on our innovation heritage and deep understanding of how people use their phones. We're excited to see how our users around the world empower their everyday lives with Galaxy AI to open up new possibilities."

Sennheiser introduced its fourth generation Momentum True Wireless flagship earbuds at CES 2024, next to ACCENTUM Plus headphones and the heart rate sensor-equipped MOMENTUM Sport model. The German audio equipment specialist has implemented over a dozen enhancements and further enhanced sound properties with the addition of the MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 to their portable product line. They reckon that the most picky of audio snobs will be pleasantly surprised by a larger-than-life sound profile, improved ANC abilities, as well as an impressive roster of connectivity built on Qualcomm's S5 Sound Gen 2 platform, and Snapdragon Sound Technology for aptX lossless sound quality and ultra-low latency.

Pre-orders are scheduled to open up internationally on February 15th—priced at $329.95 / £259.99 / €299.99 according to official press material. The MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 earbuds offer Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, and support for Auracast. Upgraded battery tech provides up to "7.5 hours of continuous audiophile-inspired listening," coupled with a Qi quick charging case. Three color schemes will be rolled out at launch: black copper, metallic silver, and graphite. Please refer to TPU's photo set below, and note the many packs of alcohol prep pad wipes in the background! Checking out the latest audio tech at trade shows can be a dirty job.

Microsoft is preparing a big update for its Windows operating system. Currently at version 11, the company is gearing up for the launch of Windows 12, which is supposed to bring a monumental shift in the tectonic plates of the regular PC user experience. Enhanced by AI, the Windows 12 OS should utilize many features like generative AI, large language models, some GPT integration, and many other tools that could benefit AI, like photo editors. The confirmation for the Windows 12 launch coming in 2024 is sourced from the Taiwanese Commercial Times, which analyzed comments from Barry Lam, the founder and chairman of PC contract manufacturer Quanta, and Junsheng (Jason) Chen, the chairman and chief executive of Acer.

Both of them underscored the importance of AI and that AI PCs are coming with the next version of Windows. Supposedly, the launch date for Windows 12 is set for June 2024. In that timeframe, hardware vendors should roll out their SoCs embedding AI processing elements at every silicon block. Qualcomm is set to debut its Snapdragon Elite X SoCs in mid-2024, aligning with the alleged release schedule of Windows 12. With more players like NVIDIA, AMD, and others planning to utilize an Arm instruction set for their next-generation PC chips, we expect to see Windows 12 get full-fledged support for Arm ISA and treat it like a first-class citizen in the OS.

EarFun's development kitchen remains hot. Delivering their first IEM and portable USB-C DAC just this past month, the awarded audio brand will be releasing the next generational leap from their current lineup, the Free Pro 3.

Revolutionizing True Wireless Audio and Noise Cancelation
The new true wireless earbuds are the first pair of earbuds that combine Snapdragon Sound Certification, Hi-Res audio, Qualcomm's QCC3072 SoC, the latest v5.3 Bluetooth certification, Low-Energy Audio protocol, and aptX Adaptive technology. It will also feature EarFun's proprietary QuietSmart 2.0 technology for active noise cancellation up to 43dB, and 6-mic cVc call noise-reduction. It will boast a generous battery life of up to 33 hours, an IPX5 certification, wireless charging, and multipoint connectivity. The Free Pro 3 will make use of EarFun's customizable audio app for total user configuration.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 Mobile Platform to amplify immersive experiences and bring premium performance to consumers' everyday life. The upgraded platform delivers across-the-board advancements to ignite on-device AI, fan-favorite mobile gaming, a creativity-charged camera and powerful 5G connectivity. The new platform is fully equipped to enable exciting new use-cases including up to 2.63 GHz peak CPU speeds, over 50% faster GPU performance, and 60% improved AI performance per watt while still delivering incredible power efficiency.

"Intelligently designed to balance performance and power efficiency, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 Mobile Platform delivers a selection of premium experiences that are brand new to the Snapdragon 7-series," said Christopher Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "By working closely with our OEM partners, we're able to help make the next generation of in-demand features, such as enhanced AI and extraordinary camera capabilities, more widely accessible to consumers." Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 will first be adopted by key OEMs including HONOR and vivo with the first device expected to be announced this month.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is an open-source resolution upscaling technology that takes lower-resolution input and uses super-resolution temporal upscaling technology, frame generation using AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) technology, and built-in latency reduction technology to provide greater-resolution output images from lower-resolution settings. While the technology is open-source, it battles in market share with NVIDIA and the company's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). However, in the mobile space, there hasn't been much talk about implementing upscaling technology up until now. According to a popular leaker @Tech_Reve on X/Twitter, we have information that AMD is collaborating with Samsung and Qualcomm to standardize on upscaling technology implementations in mobile SoCs.

Not only does the leak imply that the AMD FSR technology will be used in Samsung's upcoming Exynos SoC, but some AMD ray tracing will be present as well. The leaker has mentioned Qualcomm, which means that future iterations of Snapdragon are up to adopt the FSR algorithmic approach to resolution upscaling. We will see how and when, but with mobile games growing in size and demand, FSR could come in handy to provide mobile gamers with a better experience. Primarily, this targets Android devices, which Qualcomm supplies, where Apple's iPhone recently announced MetalFX Upscaling technology with an A17 Pro chip.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X is out to change the thin-and-light notebook market, and is out to eat the lunches of U-segment and possibly P-segment processors from Intel and AMD. The Arm based processor promises to be a competitor to Apple's M2 and M2 Max SoCs powering the latest generation of Macbooks, so Windows 11 and Chrome OS-based thin-and-lights could offer similar levels of performance and battery life. Geekerwan put the Adreno iGPU of the Snapdragon X Elite through a couple of benchmarks to show how they compare to the iGPUs of contemporary 15 W to 28 W class SoCs across Arm and x64 machine architectures, and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU.

In the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme benchmark, designed for graphics solutions of this class, the Snapdragon X Elite scored 39.2 FPS (average), compared to 60 FPS of the Apple M2 Max, 40 FPS of the Apple M2. The Core i7-13700H "Raptor Lake" is a 45 W mobile processor with an Intel Xe-LP based iGPU that has 96 EU. This chip scored just 22.5 FPS in this test. The surprise here is the Radeon 780M, the iGPU of the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, based on the latest RDNA3 architecture, with 12 compute units (768 stream processors). This chip did just 28 FPS, falling behind even the M2. The other benchmark is "Control" at 1080p with its lowest graphics settings, and here the results are fundamentally different. With "Control," we see the Snapdragon X Elite post a respectable 53 FPS, which is almost as fast as the 56 FPS by the Radeon 780M powering the Ryzen 7 7740HS, but ahead of the 43 FPS put by the Apple M2, and a whopping 145 FPS by the M2 Max.

During the Q3 2023 earnings call, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was answering some questions from analysts regarding the company's future and its position on emerging competition. One of the most significant problems the company could face is the potential Arm-based chip development not coming from x86 vendors like Intel and AMD. Instead, there could be fierce competition in the near future with the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite X, possible NVIDIA Arm-based PC processor, and in the future, even more Arm CPU providers that Intel would have to compete against in the client segment. During the call, Pat Gelsinger noted that "Arm and Windows client alternatives, generally, they've been relegated to pretty insignificant roles in the PC business. And we take all competition seriously. But I think history as our guide here, we don't see these potentially being all that significant overall. Our momentum is strong. We have a strong roadmap."

Additionally, the CEO noted: "When thinking about other alternative architectures like Arm, we also say, wow, what a great opportunity for our foundry business." If the adoption of Arm-based CPUs for Windows PCs becomes more present, Intel plans to compete with its next-generation x86 offerings like Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake, Lunar Lake, and even Panther Lake in the future. As stated, the CEO expects the competition to manufacture its chips at Intel's foundries so that Intel can provide a platform for these companies to serve the PC ecosystem.

Micron Technology, Inc., announced today that it is now shipping production samples of its low-power double data rate 5X (LPDDR5X) memory - the industry's only 1β (1-beta) mobile-optimized memory - for use with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.'s latest flagship mobile platform, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Running at the world's fastest speed grade of 9.6 gigabits per second (Gbps), Micron LPDDR5X provides the mobile ecosystem with the fast performance needed to unlock generative artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge. Enabled by its innovative, industry-leading 1β process node technology, Micron LPDDR5X also delivers advanced power-saving capabilities for mobile users.

"Generative AI is poised to unleash unprecedented productivity, ease of use, and personalization for smartphone users by delivering the power of large language models to flagship mobile phones," said Mark Montierth, corporate vice president and general manager of Micron's Mobile Business Unit. "Micron's 1β LPDDR5X combined with Qualcomm Technologies' AI-optimized Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform empowers smartphone manufacturers with the next-generation performance and power efficiency essential to enabling revolutionary AI technology at the edge."

At Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced its latest premium mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3—a true titan of on-device intelligence, premium-tier performance, and power efficiency. As the premium Android smartphone SoC leader, Qualcomm Technologies' latest processor will be adopted for flagship devices by global OEMs and smartphone brands including ASUS, Honor, iQOO, MEIZU, NIO, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmi, RedMagic, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.

"Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 infuses high-performance AI across the entire system to deliver premium-level performance and extraordinary experiences to consumers. This platform unlocks a new era of generative AI enabling users to generate unique content, help with productivity, and other breakthrough use cases." said Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Each year, we set out to design leading features and technologies that will power our latest Snapdragon 8-series mobile platform and the next generation of flagship Android devices. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 delivers."

At Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. today announced the Qualcomm S7 & S7 Pro Gen1 Sound platforms. Designed for earbuds, headphones, and speakers, these are our most advanced audio platforms ever, which with the combination of high-performance, low power compute, on-device AI, and advanced connectivity will ignite a new era of audio innovation to deliver breakthrough user experiences. The S7 Pro also includes micro-power Wi-Fi to extend the range of audio devices far beyond what is possible today using only Bluetooth - allowing users to walk around a home, building or campus while listening to music or making calls.

"These platforms set a new benchmark for high-performance sound at ultra-low power. They are packed with premium technologies that work together with on-device AI to deliver immersive and personalized audio experiences wherever you go - whether in a meeting, socializing, gaming, listening to music or just needing some quiet time," Dino Bekis, vice president and general manager, Wearables and Mixed Signals Solutions, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "The S7 Pro Platform with our micro-power Wi-Fi and revolutionary Qualcomm XPAN technology further transforms the sound experience by enabling whole home and building audio coverage, support for up to 192 kHz multi-channel lossless music streaming and enhanced multi-channel spatial audio for gaming."

At Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the most powerful computing processor it has ever created for the PC: Snapdragon X Elite. This groundbreaking platform ushers in a new era of premium computing by delivering a massive leap forward with best-in-class CPU performance, leading on-device AI inferencing, and one of the most efficient processors in a PC with up to multiple days of battery life. As AI transforms how we interact with our PCs, Snapdragon X Elite is designed to support the intelligent and power-intensive tasks of the future that will enable powerful productivity, rich creativity, and immersive entertainment experiences from anywhere.

"Snapdragon X Elite represents a dramatic leap in innovation for computing as we deliver our new, custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU for super-charged performance that will delight consumers with incredible power efficiency and take their creativity and productivity to the next level," said Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Compute & Gaming, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Powerful on-device AI experiences will enable seamless multitasking and new intuitive user experiences, empowering consumers and businesses alike to create and accomplish more." PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite are expected mid-2024.

Thanks to the information from Windows Report, we have received numerous details regarding Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon Elite X chip for laptops. The Snapdragon Elite X SoC is built on top of Nuvia-derived Oryon cores, which Qualcomm put 12 off in the SoC. While we don't know their base frequencies, the all-core boost reaches 3.8 GHz. The SoC can reach up to 4.3 GHz on single and dual-core boosting. However, the slide notes that this is all pure "big" core configuration of the SoC, so no big.LITTLE design is done. The GPU part of Snapdragon Elite X is still based on Qualcomm's Adreno IP; however, the performance figures are up significantly to reach 4.6 TeraFLOPS of supposedly FP32 single-precision power. Accompanying the CPU and GPU, there are dedicated AI and image processing accelerators, like Hexagon Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which can process 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS). For the camera, the Spectra Image Sensor Processor (ISP) is there to support up to 4K HDR video capture on a dual 36 MP or a single 64 MP camera setup.

The SoC supports LPDDR5X memory running at 8533 MT/s and a maximum capacity of 64 GB. Apparently, the memory controller is an 8-channel one with a 16-bit width and a maximum bandwidth of 136 GB/s. Snapdragon Elite X has PCIe 4.0 and supports UFS 4.0 for outside connection. All of this is packed on a die manufactured by TSMC on a 4 nm node. In addition to marketing excellent performance compared to x86 solutions, Qualcomm also advertises the SoC as power efficient. The slide notes that it uses 1/3 of the power at the same peak PC performance of x86 offerings. It is also interesting to note that the package will support WiFi7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Officially coming in 2024, the Snapdragon Elite X will have to compete with Intel's Meteor Lake and/or Arrow Lake, in addition to AMD Strix Point.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced today that they are building on their long-standing collaboration with Google by bringing a RISC-V based wearables solution for use with Wear OS by Google. This expanded framework will help pave the way for more products within the ecosystem to take advantage of custom CPUs that are low power and high performance. Leading up to this, the companies will continue to invest in Snapdragon Wear platforms as the leading smartwatch silicon provider for the Wear OS ecosystem.

"Qualcomm Technologies have been a pillar of the Wear OS ecosystem, providing high performance, low power systems for many of our OEM partners," said Bjorn Kilburn, GM of Wear OS by Google. "We are excited to extend our work with Qualcomm Technologies and bring a RISC-V wearable solution to market."
"We are excited to leverage RISC-V and expand our Snapdragon Wear platform as a leading silicon provider for Wear OS. Our Snapdragon Wear platform innovations will help the Wear OS ecosystem rapidly evolve and streamline new device launches globally," said Dino Bekis, vice president and general manager, Wearables and Mixed Signal Solutions, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Qualcomm is poised to significantly rebrand its PC chip lineup as it transitions from the existing 8cx series to the Snapdragon X Series, designed to differentiate its PC chips from Snapdragon processors in mobile devices. The new Snapdragon X Series will incorporate Qualcomm's Oryon CPU SKU, based on Nuvia's IP and praised for its advanced performance and power efficiency. In addition to the new CPU core, Qualcomm also plans to use a dedicated NPU for accelerating on-device AI applications. However, questions remain regarding the reactions of hardware partners, particularly in response to Qualcomm's request for proprietary power management integrated circuits (PMICs) to be used alongside Oryon SoCs.

This strategic rebranding also entails new logos and badges for the system, symbolizing the shift in the product lineup, and the company plans to introduce a simplified tiering structure for its PC ecosystem. Qualcomm currently holds a dominant position as an Arm-based SoC manufacturer for Windows-on-Arm devices. With this rebranding, Qualcomm hopes to position itself competitively in performance and in marketing as well, with established PC chip providers like AMD and Intel, potentially expanding Arm's market share in the PC industry. Further insights and details regarding the Snapdragon X Series will be revealed during the forthcoming Snapdragon Summit, scheduled from October 24 to 26.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced two new spatial computing platforms - Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 and Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 - that will enable the next generation of mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR) devices and smart glasses. Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 Platform: The platform brings premium MR and VR technology into a single chip architecture to unlock next level immersive experiences in thinner and more comfortable headsets, that don't require an external battery pack.

Engineered to deliver a lag free experience with breathtaking visuals and fully immersive sound, the platform allows users to blend virtual content with their physical surroundings and transition seamlessly between MR and VR experiences.

Big news from the Connect stage: Meta Quest 3 hits shelves October 10, and pre-orders are open now! The world's first mass-market mixed reality headset starts at $499.99 USD for the 128 GB version and $649.99 USD for those who want a larger storage capacity at 512 GB. But wait, there's more! For a limited time, your Meta Quest 3 purchase comes bundled with Asgard's Wrath 2 - a $59.99 USD value. And for the 512 GB SKU, we'll also kick in a six-month trial of Meta Quest+ for a combined value of over $100 USD.

Mixed Reality: Explore Like Never Before
Immersive experiences can transport you to fantastical worlds that defy the laws of physics, but the physical world—and the connections you've made there—are pretty important, too. That's why Meta Quest 3 features breakthrough mixed reality that enables a spectrum of experiences. You can watch immersive NBA games courtside or open a portal to another dimension right from the comfort of your living room - all while high-fidelity, full-color Passthrough keeps your physical surroundings in sight with over 10 times more pixels compared to Meta Quest 2.