Qualcomm Looks Beyond Smartphones With New Chip -- Update
January 03 2017 - 6:51PM
Dow Jones News
By Georgia Wells
LAS VEGAS -- Qualcomm Inc. views its latest smartphone chip as a
"connected device" chip, a bid to outdistance rivals such as Intel
Corp. in the burgeoning market for gadgets and equipment with
computing and communications capabilities built in.
The computer-chip maker based in San Diego unveiled its latest
premium chip, Snapdragon 835, on Tuesday at CES 2017, a
consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas.
Like previous Snapdragons, the new model includes technology
expected to improve the performance of coming smartphones
incrementally and drive consumers to upgrade their handsets. But
the chip includes features designed to process images and sound for
augmented reality and virtual reality, and its improved battery
life and smaller size might suit it for small, internet-connected
devices.
The new chip's potential in devices other than smartphones is
important to Qualcomm, because Qualcomm's reliance on the phone
market leaves it exposed to the slowing growth of smartphone
shipments. Qualcomm is one of the largest suppliers of chips that
enable phones to communicate with cell networks.
Companies planning to use the new chip include augmented- and
virtual-reality developer Osterhout Design Group in San Francisco.
ODG said Tuesday that its latest smart glasses will use the
Snapdragon 835. A spokesman for Qualcomm said a new voice-assistant
home appliance is expected to use the new chip. A smart baby
monitor called Mattel Aristotle also uses the unit.
Onstage at CES, Patrick Little, Qualcomm's senior vice president
of automotive, touted the company's potential in cars, where
competition is heating up since Intel last year agreed to acquire
NXP Semiconductors NV, the top supplier of automotive chips.
Qualcomm announced its first communications chip for cars, which
will handle LTE cellular signals at speeds measured in gigabits per
second.
"No longer will you be cranking windows and pushing buttons,"
Mr. Little said. "You'll walk into your car and it will feel like a
very seamless transition with your handset."
Mr. Little also announced a partnership with Audi to test new
cellular technology that would, it said, allow a car to communicate
with, say, a pedestrian carrying a phone who had stepped into the
street without checking for cars.
Intel, whose chips provide computing power in most computers,
also unveiled Tuesday its latest processors designed for computers,
virtual reality and videogaming.
The processor boosts performance of videogaming laptops by as
much as 20%, according to Intel, and makes it easier to stream 4K
video without additional, specialized hardware. The processor is a
part of the 7th Gen Intel Core processor family that Intel
announced in August, code-named Kaby Lake.
Qualcomm beat rivals to market with chips bearing transistors
that measure 10 nanometers, the smallest produced commercially by
any chip maker. Qualcomm unveiled in December a chip for servers
that, like the new Snapdragon, has 10-nanometer transistors. Intel
expects to bring to market its own chips with 10-nanometer features
later this year.
The transistors on Qualcomm's new chip are smaller than those of
its previous model, the Snapdragon 820. The new chip uses 25% less
power than the previous model, according to Qualcomm. The smaller
transistors also make for a smaller chip. It is now a bit smaller
than a penny; the previous model was about the size of a penny.
Artificial- and virtual-reality headset makers aim to make their
gadgets smaller and more power-efficient, which might make the new
chips attractive in those devices.
The new Snapdragon also processes virtual-reality content in a
new way that allows a wearer to experience depth; now when a user
walks toward an object in virtual reality, the object gets
bigger.
For security, the new chip also will be able to process voice
and eye data so users can unlock devices through the sound of their
voices or images of their eyes.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 03, 2017 18:36 ET (23:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024