Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 to power Windows PCs

We all know Qualcomm as the company powering a lot of popular mid-range and flagship smartphones with their current lot of SoC ranging from Snapdragon 450 to Snapdragon 845. Today at Computex 2018, Qualcomm has unveiled a new chip targeted specifically at Windows PCs. Enter Snapdragon 850.
Qualcomm had previously tried their hand at powering laptops based on their Snapdragon 835 chip with mixed results. The new chip is designed specifically with laptops in mind, while the Snapdragon 845 will remain the flagship chip for smartphones. Based on 10nm fabrication process, the new Snapdragon 850 chip is clocked at 2.95GHz, a noticeable jump from Snapdragon 835 (2.6GHz). The company also claims that the new chip is expected to offer 30% better performance and 20% more battery life than the 835.
Qualcomm has focused a lot on network performance too on the Snapdragon 850 chip with Gigabit LTE speeds expected to be 20% faster than their last generation chip. The company also boasts that users may see as high as 5X jump in download speeds in weak cellular signal zones. Since it is meant for laptops, the company has not ignored the entertainment aspect either. The new chip promises to provide high fidelity HD sound thanks to Qualcomm Aqstic and aptX audio. It is also capable of capturing and playing back UltraHD 4K videos.
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Snapdragon 850 is also in sync with Windows 10 April 2018 update for improved CPU and graphics performance, increased app compatibility and better 64-bit Edge browser experience. This Qualcomm chip also provides hardware acceleration for Microsoft Machine Learning SDK empowering developer for AI based applications.
A lot of OEMs have shown interest in this new platform that gives them the flexibility of deploying models with traditional as well as new form factors. During a call, Qualcomm has confirmed that devices based on Snapdragon 850 will hit the market before the end of this year. Exciting times lie ahead as we look forward to this new lineup of ‘Always On and Always Connected’ PCs.