Qualcomm: all the information you need to know

The American company Qualcomm is one of the great known in the mobile world for creating the famous Snapdragon processors. However, it seems that these same components are not as popular in the laptop market. Today we will explain everything you need to know about the company's next processors and what we can expect from the brand.

Index of contents

Who are Qualcomm?

Before we start talking about other topics related to Qualcomm technology, we always like to start with a bit of history. Therefore, let's dig a little into the origins of this famous brand and its career as a technology company.

Qualcomm's history is not particularly recent. The brand was born on July 1, 1985 from the hand of seven ex-workers of the Linkabit company and the name was chosen by "Quality Communications" .

Initially, the company worked primarily for government and other projects related to the US Defense Ministry. It may not sound strange to you, but it is quite peculiar, given that the company consisted of between 7 and 8 employees until 1986.

Later, in 1991, Qualcomm changed its sights and focused much more on the mobile and telecommunications market. For this reason, the company underwent an incredible expansion, reaching 620 employees the following years.

During the following years, the company was in a sway of events that would destabilize it, but by 1996, things would improve significantly. After successfully adopting the CDMA (Multiple Access by Code Division, in Spanish) standards , its annual collection continued to rise.

Thus, in 1999, after a cut in staff, the company lived through the best years in its history, suffering a 2621% growth in market presence in a single year.

In future years, two new CEOs succeeded each other and the company started different projects focused on different fields of technology.

• Dr. Irwin Jacobs focused on the development and growth of Qualcomm . Paul E. Jacobs (son of Dr. Irwin) focused on researching and developing the Internet of Things . Steven Mollenkopf (current CEO) mentions that the company will now focus on expanding the market and researching wireless technologies.

Qualcomm

Despite the fact that Qualcomm was born in the United States, today it is a company with more than 200 offices spread all over the world. In fact, as of 2001 , 65% of the company's collections came from outside its native country.

Not surprisingly, what we can agree on is that it is one of the most popular technology-creating companies.

Most of the company's products can be divided into four main groups: Portable products, Bluetooth, Modems and Wi-Fi.

Portable Products

In this first and most important group we have Qualcomm Snapdragon processors , units for cell phones and, to a lesser extent, for laptops.

In the mobile market, the relevance of these processors is indisputable, which is why it is in most top phones. However, on the flip side of the coin, laptop processors have not been as popular as they did not offer differentiating performance.

Here we find the Snapdragon 8, 7, 6 Series and other families for cell phones, as well as the Snapdragon 8cx, 850 and 835 for computers.

Among the characteristics that the company guarantees us, we highlight:

• Qualcomm Quick Charge technology High range of wireless technologies such as LTE, 5G and others Good energy efficiency Support for cutting-edge technologies such as touch-ups using Artificial Intelligence Good graphics power

Modems

The modems section is something relatively new for the brand. As we showed you in the beginning, the new Qualcomm CEO is focusing on expanding the market and offering services at other levels.

The newest processors that make up this group are the Snapdragon X55 and X50 , which stand out for supporting 5G wireless technology . On the other hand, we have other older models that present the typical technologies of any machine of this nature.

These modems offer LTE technology as standard and are under the name of Snapdragon X24, X20, X16, X12 and X5 .

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is something I don't think we have to dig too deep into. After all, it is a technology and a standard that brands throughout the world have adopted, making it practically known to everyone.

Regarding Qualcomm , we have to attribute the design, construction and implementation of some of the components that make up many of the devices we use. Although most people know them for their mobile and laptop processors, the company has a large share in other markets such as this one.

For this group we have a great variety of processors, which are divided into different subgroups according to their purpose:

• Dual Mode Devices (devices with performance mode or economy mode such as gaming) Low consumption devices Processor solution focused on clear and balanced sound for audiophiles 'Automotive' technology or focused on hands-free voice use.

As you can see, all the uses that we see in this list refer to wireless headphones of some kind.

Wi-Fi technology

Although it is often spoken lightly, every time a technology comes onto the market, making it available on the latest devices is a difficult job.

Sometimes we comment that a mobile has 5G or supports Wi-Fi 6 , but really what it implies is that the processor or another component supports it. And the truth is that Qualcomm is one of the companies that investigates the most in this field.

When we talk about Wi-Fi technology, the dragon company is a name that is repeated a lot. Many of the processors it creates are among the best routers, mobiles and so on and because of this they receive very interesting technologies.

As in the previous section, these CPUs are divided into a couple of small subgroups:

• Processors with Wi-Fi 6 Components for routers ' Automotive ' processors, capable of supporting connections with a large number of devices 'Mesh Networking' components designed to help manufacturers develop and test new products

Other Qualcomm solutions

Here we will talk about other sections in which the American company is also involved.

Some of these projects are less relevant or even support less heavy tasks. However, we are likely to see a boom in these in the near future, as new technologies seem to be heading in this direction.

Among them we find:

• Camera technology, where Artificial Intelligence is beginning to be introduced to retouch and improve images. The interconnected intelligent and robotic devices, which are part of the first steps for the Internet of Things. And wearables, miniature pieces of technology that are complemented by other devices to offer us advanced functionalities.

In these three sections we can find internal components that feed a large number of products from different branches. For example, state-of-the-art cameras, fridges, air conditioners and, of course, smartwatches.

It is remarkable that all these products are relatively unknown. Despite needing the same or more research than other fields the company studies, they hardly receive attention from advertisers. Not surprisingly, these small advances are what make the difference with their small changes and improvements in everyday life

We do not know what the specific direction the company will take in the future, although we know that it will always be towards the evolution of technology. In addition, we always expect great things from this American company, since they usually offer us parts of great quality and performance.

Snapdragon for mobile

Finally, we want to talk to you about the product for which the company has earned its biggest share of fame: Snapdragon processors.

With the birth of smartphones in the early 2000s, designs were quite different between brands. Miniature keyboards, dropdowns, large buttons, secondary screens… However, the model of some companies led the way for the rest.

Thanks to Apple, the standard of what was a smartphone was established and thus many other less popular models flourished.

However, the brands that preceded it had to find their own options in the absence of their incredible Operating System and their own components. It is there that Qualcomm took the stand with its high-performance Snapdragon processors.

At first they were not very powerful components and the low optimization of Android weighed down even more. Fortunately, over the years, things have changed and we have more and more elegant phones as well as powerful ones.

This is how today we have the Snapdragon 855 and 855+ , which are positioned as one of the top CPUs in the mobile market. At his side we have the Kirin from Huawei , which used to reach lower powers and the almost invincible Bionics AX from Apple .

But as expected, the technology is not for a single moment stopped and Qualcomm is already preparing the release of its next component.

Rumors, leaks and data about the Snapdragon 865 are the order of the day and the results are considerably positive. For example, the last thing we know about the subject are some internal benchmark leaks, although everything will be known once we personally test them.

If you want to be aware of current computing and technology, we recommend you keep an eye on our website. We cover all the leaks that run on the web, as well as publish reviews of the most relevant products for the medium.

Final words on Qualcomm

As you can see, Qualcomm is one of the most important companies in the world of technology and peripherals. With more or less success, he is always at the top of the wave and that is why he usually teams up with big brands.

Its mobile section is undoubtedly its greatest asset in the market, which is why it powers many of the mid-range and high-end mobiles. However, lately we are seeing how the company changes its sights and focuses on other fields.

Technologies such as Bluetooth , Wi-Fi or even Artificial Intelligence are increasingly important. This is why the American company invests more and more in professionals, research and avant-garde projects.

No one knows how the future will unfold and everything indicates that Qualcomm will continue to target new emerging markets.

Currently, one of its biggest bets has been high-performance lightweight notebooks for students and workers. Unfortunately, despite efforts, the brand has not been very successful.

Not surprisingly, the dragon brand has many other sources to investigate and that is something that they know well. With slow steps and a lot of patience, they are expanding the market and researching new ways to innovate, and although they have not always been the first, they are always on the front line.

Now tell us, what do you think of Qualcomm as a company? How many brand devices do you think you use? Share your ideas in the comment box.