During the third day of the annual Snapdragon Technology Summit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), unveiled the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 8cx Compute Platform, the world’s first 7 nanometer PC platform. Created from the ground up for the next generation of personal computing by bringing new features with thin and light designs, allowing for new form factors in the always-on, always-connected category, the Snapdragon 8cx packs the new Qualcomm ® Adreno™ 680 GPU, the most powerful GPU ever designed by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Doubling the memory interface from 64 bit to 128 bit wide, and with greater performance than previous Snapdragon compute platforms, consumers will benefit from enhanced experiences and cutting-edge graphics when creating and consuming content. The Snapdragon 8cx is currently sampling to customers and is expected to begin shipping in commercial devices in Q3 of 2019.
“With performance and battery life as our design tenets, we’re bringing 7nm innovations to the PC space, allowing for smartphone-like capabilities to transform the computing experience,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile for Qualcomm Technologies. “As the fastest Snapdragon platform ever, the Snapdragon 8cx will allow our customers to offer a powerful computing experience of multi-day battery life and multi-gigabit connectivity, in new thin, light and fanless design for consumers and the enterprise.”
The Snapdragon 8cx features the new octa-core Qualcomm® Kryo™ 495 CPU, the fastest Kryo CPU ever designed and built by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. With a larger cache than previous compute platforms, the Kryo 495 allows for faster multi-tasking and increased productivity for users, disrupting the performance expectations of current thin, light and fanless PC designs. The Snapdragon 8cx increases performance while using a fraction of the power required by competing solutions, allowing for multi-day battery life and always-on connectivity when consumers need it most. The Snapdragon 8cx marks the first time the Snapdragon platform is ready for Windows 10 enterprise customers. This gives IT managers the tools to do more and stay secure as enterprises move to harness the power of the cloud to help reduce the complexity of managing today’s modern IT device environment.
Snapdragon 8cx is the first Snapdragon Compute platform for PCs to support Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 4+ technology, designed to deliver lightning-fast charging for consumers on the go. Snapdragon 8cx is also equipped with Qualcomm Aqstic™ audio technology, a suite of technologies that includes advanced audio codecs, smart power amplifiers and a suite of advanced audio and voice software technologies. This technology suite allows PCs built on the Snapdragon 8cx platform to deliver high definition Bluetooth wireless audio, and further increases the accessibility and choice of voice assistants like Cortana and Alexa for consumers using their PCs. For users looking to connect their Bluetooth® wireless enabled device to a Snapdragon 8cx PC, they can experience High Fidelity (Hi-Fi) audio thanks to the integration of Qualcomm® aptX™ HD. By preserving sound data through the audio transmission, users can enjoy listening to music at the highest audible quality when using a wireless device.
With support for second generation USB 3.1 over Type C and third generation PCI-E for limitless peripherals, users can now connect up to two 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) monitors to their Snapdragon 8cx enabled device.
Building the path to 5G, the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X24 LTE modem featured in the Snapdragon 8cx is designed to help operators to fully mobilize their spectrum assets and extend the capabilities of Gigabit LTE, allowing for new consumer experiences at blazing-fast speeds on the PC. Bringing new feature sets and possibilities in industrial design to the PC industry, the Snapdragon 8cxwill power the next generation of thin, light and fanless always on, always connected PCs. For more information please visit Qualcomm’s site at https://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/always-connected-pc