Qualcomm unveils new smartphone chip in shift to its own designs

QUALCOMM unveiled a more powerful processor that’s designed to bring laptop-level capabilities to smartphones, helping the devices take advantage of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

The latest version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon lineup will include its in-house Oryon processor design, the company said on Monday (Oct 21) at an event in Hawaii. The chip will be 45 per cent faster than the previous model and use less energy, Qualcomm said.

Qualcomm’s products dominate the market for mobile devices that use the Android operating system. That makes the company’s technology updates a vital part of efforts to compete against Apple by many of the world’s smartphone makers.

Qualcomm’s decision to shift back towards its own processor designs is part of move by chief executive officer Cristiano Amon to invest more in homegrown technology. The Snapdragon lineup had become more reliant on the designs of Arm Holdings under previous leadership.

Oryon, developed by a team of engineers that Amon brought in with Qualcomm’s acquisition of startup Nuvia, is already a central part of chips that the company sells for laptops.

Those machines have been branded “AI PCs”, and software maker Microsoft has embraced them as a way to spotlight new AI capabilities. They also represent a threat to Intel’s dominance in personal computer processor business.

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Smartphones based on the new version of Snapdragon will be a leap forward in their ability to run generative AI-based software on the devices themselves, San Diego-based Qualcomm said. With this approach – rather than accessing services via remote servers – users can expect a much quicker response, the company said. BLOOMBERG