The “Snapdragon for India” event which was held on July 30, 2024, in New Delhi showcased Qualcomm’s strategic initiatives and new products tailored for the Indian market. This event underscored Qualcomm’s commitment to India, highlighting advancements in AI, 5G, and PC technologies. Here we will cover what all were announced in detail!
Contents
Key Announcements:
1. X Elite Processors
Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, focusing on their applications in Copilot+ PCs. These processors are designed to enhance speed, performance, connectivity, and battery life, with significant AI capabilities. The Snapdragon X Elite is positioned as the flagship model, while the Snapdragon X Plus offers similar features with slightly reduced specifications.
Qualcomm’s key focus this year has been to give a standard performance across the series while maintaining good battery efficiency for PCs. From early reviews, the X Elite powered Laptops are giving great battery life across the board while giving peak performance while gaming.
With the collaboration with Microsoft, Qualcomm has been able to add a ton of AI features via Co-pilot+ to all the X powered PCs throughout the software. These include the standard features like ai summarising, note writing to drawing paintings from the given suggestions.
Several leading laptop brands are set to release devices powered by these processors in India, including models from ASUS, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Dell, and Acer. These devices, featuring enhanced AI integration and improved connectivity, aim to revolutionize the Indian PC market.
2. Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 Platform
Qualcomm unveiled a new mobile chipset, Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 specifically designed for the Indian smartphone market. Qualcomm claims that this platform will revolutionise the 5G market in India and will make 5G more accessible. Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 is expected to bring 5G for the first time below ₹10,000 and thereby making it more affordable to the people.
Qualcomm mentions the need for smartphones to be powerful while being energy efficient and that optimised. Bringing up a new 8s series alongside the 8 series processor in itself is to serialise the performance for a broader audience while cutting out on some features.
They also explained their new naming scheme which made into the hot topics.
8 series – premium flagship
7 series – high tier devices
6 series – midrange devices
4 series – entry level devices
(+) series – best in tier devices
base – balance of performance and price
(s) series – essential features
Strategic Importance:
The event emphasized Qualcomm’s recognition of India’s burgeoning tech market and its potential for growth. By introducing affordable 5G solutions and advanced PC technologies, Qualcomm aims to democratize access to high-speed internet and enhance productivity tools for Indian consumers and businesses. Qualcomm mentions that they’re focusing on three key things in the Indian market. 1. 5G revolution: To make 5G more attainable to its users without compromising the overall specifications of smartphone. 2. Smooth PC and Laptop Experience: The X elite processors are supposed to be more fast, efficient and have a good developer support to use its power in a better way. 3. AI for all: With the coming up of dedicated NPUs, Qualcomm says AI is the future of technology and with Co-pilot+ it is supposed to make Ai more useful and productive for the end consumer.
