Unlike smartphones, it can be very difficult to explain why a new chipset is (or isn’t) attractive. Some of this is built into these announcements. The core of it is that it takes into account processors, desktops, etc. deeply Otaku. In the AI era, this task has become even more difficult. Qualcomm, MediaTek, and almost every other SoC manufacturer are focused on providing improved levels of power to LLM developers to move genAI tasks on-device. But until these tools actually ship, it’s all a little too hypothetical for most consumers to get excited about.
At first glance, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm’s new chipset expected to arrive in the majority of flagship Android devices over the next 12 months, falls into that category. Many of the discussions and demos at the Snapdragon Summit on Maui included AI-based pet photography and video object removal, or the ability to quickly split checks with your voice that amused many tech reporters yesterday. The focus was on introducing. Instructions.
Flights and accommodations for this launch event were provided by Qualcomm, but the views expressed in this article represent the author’s own independent opinions.
But after sitting down for our annual chat with Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, I’m starting to believe that the real story of the Snapdragon 8 Elite has little to do with AI. In fact, I think we may be on the verge of some real excitement in the hardware space, including the potential revival of long-abandoned concepts. Getting there, however, will require considerable courage on the part of Qualcomm’s hardware partners. Let me explain.
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And what I would like you to pay attention to is:
Given the constant focus on AI this year, I was like anyone when the conversation between myself, Chris Patrick, and a handful of fellow reporters centered almost entirely on the arrival of Oryon. I was surprised. We’ve known for some time that Oryon would be coming to mobile Snapdragon chips, but after a successful launch in laptops earlier this year, we’re finally seeing similar levels of power coming to Android. . If you’re at least a little curious about what these next-generation devices will be capable of, I think Patrick’s elevator pitch works very well. “Desktop-class performance, mobile-class efficiency.”
Midway through the promise that on-device AI will revolutionize mobile, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a performance breakthrough that combines the raw horsepower you’ve come to expect from a smartphone with efficiency you won’t want to give up. We believe that this is the case. And in fact, the move to custom cores rather than using ARM’s off-the-shelf Cortex cores comes from a desire to adapt to that reality as quickly as possible (and perhaps ARM, which heated up after our conversation) There may also be an ongoing feud with (ended).
“There are still things you can’t do with your phone,” he tells me. “I’m going to wait until I do it on my laptop.” No need to wait any longer. […] You will be able to work with confidence [content creation] Because of the horsepower available, you can use it on your phone. ”
As someone who uses many That’s an impressive promise considering 100 cell phones can perform virtually the same tasks throughout the year. However, proofing can take time and require the cooperation of external developers. But it’s been a while since I’ve heard someone so deeply involved in the smartphone industry describe a potential revolution that isn’t based on task automation or an ever-increasing number of tokens. Rather, this feels like a real tangential change possibility.
On a technical level, Snapdragon 8 Elite is all about flexibility, he says, completely eliminating the need to retain power-inefficient cores. “For example, as your workload grows, you don’t need to move it between processes unless you have to,” he explains. “Because the overhead of context switching is part of what slows down the end user’s experience. So if you can stay at that core scale, that’s best for the end user. But the magic trick is to scale A processor that can scale up and down to the bottom?”
Obviously, until we can get our hands on actual next-gen smartphones, these claims will remain just claims. There’s nothing wrong with maintaining a degree of skepticism toward this kind of redesigned architecture. TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process could deliver the combination of performance and power that Qualcomm promises, but the huge increase in clock speeds and complete lack of efficiency cores raise an eyebrow, at least to me.
Get ready for desktop mode to actually matter
And the same applies to foldable
Okay, okay. All of this is probably still a little too technical for a wide audience. But these promised performance leaps immediately had me dreaming of the return of exciting, experimental gadgets. I’m not just talking about foldable products, but I think these products could play a pretty big role throughout the next decade. Let’s take a step-by-step look at these predictions in terms of what potential dreams will actually become reality in the coming years.
First, desktop mode is coming. Whether you’re a hardcore DeX user or someone who’s been biding their time until the Pixel 9 Pro definitely gets the upgraded desktop mode, we’ve actually got you covered. I think we are on the brink of mobile phones being able to power the majority of users. ‘ Workload. On paper, these processors can compete with the laptops you already carry around in your bag. Why not let your smartphone power your entire desktop setup with just a monitor, mouse, and keyboard? How many cables?
As Patrick said, the lines between “phone tasks” and “computer tasks” are blurring more than ever, and I’m excited about that. And I think that progress paves the way for foldable devices to really appeal to a wider audience.
My biggest complaint with devices like the OnePlus Open is that I struggle to figure out what exactly to use that large display for. But as desktop-class apps start appearing on smartphones and folding displays continue to grow in size and shape, a full-fledged Adobe Lightroom will slip into your pocket when you’re on a plane or working in a hotel. The world will suddenly appear. Realizable.
Obviously, that will require companies like Adobe to be aggressive about porting desktop-class apps to mobile, and laptops powered by Snapdragon X Elite will still need to emulate Creative Cloud tools. Considering that we still have a solution. But I think the demand, the hunger, for this kind of powerful, portable experience is real. And I think that extends far beyond the collapsible form factors that you can buy today.
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And OEMs need to start by reviving obsolete concepts.
I think both predictions are reasonable, but neither is my dream scenario. I’m not into gambling, and I don’t expect companies like Samsung to break with their tradition of slowly rolling out iterative updates to their existing product lines. But I can’t help but feel that we’re on the cusp of a new movement that rethinks how smartphones can transform into different shapes and sizes. Besides the foldables, I’m reminded of Asus’ PadFone product line. The product died a quiet death about 10 years ago after releasing just a few different models.
The PadFone was pretty original in theory. Why handle multiple devices when you can connect your Android smartphone to a tablet-sized display and have a much larger workspace while keeping all your apps, files, and accounts? But we’re talking about technology that’s over a decade old, and the raw horsepower needed to make it a usable concept for most people simply didn’t exist. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite, we might finally get there.
This may be old history now, but it could be poised for a comeback.
If technological limitations and fear of change are what kept us from entering the single-device world, I think the previous walls have finally come down. I hope some OEM makes my dream a reality. Either Samsung takes another brave step by bringing a foldable product to market, or a smaller OEM like OnePlus bets on a creative path with a performance-focused lineup. Who knows? Perhaps Asus will return to the PadFone concept, which it neglected for a full decade.
Either way, I think we’re ready for the return of one device, multiple form factors. When performance is real and app developers can treat Android like any other desktop-class operating system, why not turn your smartphone into a tablet or laptop?
The future of mobile may look different, but only time will tell
Obviously, my predictions here will remain fiction until someone takes a courageous step. Manufacturers need to be convinced of the utility that this level of power can provide, and that may require a whole new class of desktop-level apps to appear on the Play Store. But if you’ve long held out hope that one day your smartphone will be the key to transforming how and where you work, it looks like that path finally exists with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. And the best part? We don’t need an AI hype cycle.
