Qualcomm Technologies’ innovation in the premium tier, coupled with the evolution of 5G, is accelerating and aiming to redefine immersive consumer experiences.

Qualcomm says diverse growth segments (the requirements and complexity to offer apps in Always On, Always Connected PCs, XR devices, Edge/Cloud AI products,  5G fixed wireless broadband, and others) depend on the innovation that comes from breakthroughs in the premium tier. For example, Gartner's Market Databook (as of Sept. 2020) says 5G wireless infrastructure worldwide spending will grow 95% in 2020 to about $8 billion.

Snapdragon 888, with the 3rd gen Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X60 5G Modem-RF System, enables global compatibility by offering mmWave and sub-6 across all major bands worldwide, as well as support for 5G carrier aggregation, global multi-SIM, stand alone, non-stand alone, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.

The new 6th generation Qualcomm® AI Engine, with the completely re-engineered Qualcomm® Hexagon™ processor, takes a pivotal leap forward in AI compared to the previous generation to improve performance, power efficiency— at 26 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS). 

The platform additionally features the 2nd generation Qualcomm® Sensing Hub, which incorporates lower-power always-on AI processing for intuitive, intelligent features.

While Snapdragon Elite Gaming™ has delivered dozens of mobile-first technologies to smartphones (including Updateable GPU Drivers, Desktop Forward Rendering, and frame rates achieving up to 144 frames per second), the 3rd generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming featured in Snapdragon 888 delivers Qualcomm Technologies’ most significant upgrade in Qualcomm Adreno™ GPU performance.

Snapdragon 888 will triple down on the future of computational photography and transform smartphones into professional quality cameras. With the faster gigapixel speed Qualcomm Spectra™ ISP, users can capture photos and videos at 2.7 gigapixels per second or roughly 120 photos at 12MP resolution—up to 35% faster than the previous generation. 

OEMs providing their support for Snapdragon 888 included ASUS, Black Shark, Lenovo, LG, MEIZU, Motorola, Nubia, realme, OnePlus, OPPO, Sharp, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.  

Go Qualcomm Snapdragon 

For example, while the AMOLED display on the OnePlus 8 Pro tops out at 120-Hz (it updates 120 times per second), the RedMagic 5G betters that with a refresh rate of 144 Hz.

Packing the refresh rate that premium desktop computer gamers want most, the RedMagic 5G gaming smartphone also rocks a flagship processor, a triple-lens camera, fast-charging battery and 5G mobile comms.

Their 6.65-inch AMOLED display has a 1080 x 2340 resolution (387.5 ppi), 600-nits max brightness with 4096 control levels, covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1. It benefits from a 240-Hz touch sampling rate for fast response. And the shoulder trigger buttons now have a 300-Hz touch refresh rate and 2-ms touch delay for an improved console-like control setup. The phone also features in-screen fingerprint technology to unlock the phone.

Processing and graphics come via a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, supported by up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256 GB of UFS 3.0 storage (reported as 83% faster than the previous flash storage specification). This phone is 5G-compatible too, with SA and NSA dual modes for key region support.

The main camera of the triple lens setup has a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor, while the others are an 8-MP wide angle and a 2-MP bokeh. And there's an 8-MP selfie cam to the front as well.

Created as the more affordable and portable Surface tablet, the Surface Go 2 keeps the same lightweight design with a 10.5-inch display, up from the 10-inch original. The display is also higher resolution at 1920 x 1080, but retains the same 3:2 aspect ratio typical of Surface devices. Internal specifications start from an Intel Pentium Gold processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage up to an 8th Gen Core m3 processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD.

According to connected journalist Mary Jo Foley, Chief Product Officer Panos Panay internally informed "some" of his team Microsoft will not only not deliver own Surface Neo dual-screen 10X devices in the calendar year, it will also not allow 3rd party dual-screen device running on the Windows variant to ship in 2020. Currently, the report adds, the priority is to get Windows 10X on single-screen devices first, turning it into something of a Chrome OS rival in the process.

“The new iPad Pro introduces advanced technologies never before available in mobile computing,” the company says. “Combining the most advanced mobile display with powerful performance, pro cameras, pro audio, the breakthrough LiDAR Scanner and new Magic Keyboard with Trackpad, this is another huge leap forward for iPad. There’s no other device in the world like the new iPad Pro and we think our customers are going to love it.”

Announced last year for the Chinese market, the MatePad Pro is a high-end Android tablet. It features a 10.8-inch 16:10 aspect ratio AMOLED touchscreen complete with a punch hole for an 8MP front-facing camera. Display resolution clocks at 2560 x 1600, and Huawei claims it has a screen-to-body ratio of no less than 90%. The display is also allows for pen input, specifically through the (not included) M-Pencil stylus.

The reason behind the longer-than-usual break is, of course, the coronavirus outbreak. DigiTimes says upstream supply chain partners kicked off component production for the new model before the Lunar New Year, but the epidemic has put on the break. As a result, shipments may peak at a monthly level of over 3.5 million units in Q2 2020, since assemblers will only start ramping up shipments from March.

Set to initially go on sale in Samsung's home S. Korea, the Galaxy Tab S6 5G features otherwise identical specs as the previous model. It is a 10.5-inch device with a QHD+ Super AMOLED display and quad speakers with Dolby Atmos, and inside are the same Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. An S-Pen is also included for stylus input.

“The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices have met consumer wants and demands around the world. These devices represent our continuous effort to deliver industry leading innovations, from performance and power to intelligence and services,” the company says. “The Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite will introduce those distinct key premium features that make up a Galaxy S and Galaxy Note experience.”

The panel making the display is AMOLED, and handles 2560 x 1600 resolution. It comes within an aluminium chassis carrying a Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 990 processor together with 6/8GB RAM and 128/256GB NAND flash storage. The 7250mAh charges through either 40W SuperCharger or 15W wireless charging, and the tablet includes an M-Pen stylus for drawing and more precise touch input.