Snapdragon cellphone processor starts powering portable PCs

By Jean-Jacques DeLisle, contributing writer

Today’s high-performance, highly integrated processors often target specific applications so well, they’re ill-suited to any other use. Qualcomm is aiming to buck that trend. Transcending from the smartphone world, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 series of ARM-based systems-on-chip (SoCs) will be incorporated into mobile PCs, where it is expected to offer up to 50% more battery life and Gigabit LTE.

“You might know Snapdragon from the smartphone space,” said Don Maguire, vice president of global product marketing for Qualcomm Technologies. “What you may not know is that the 835 will be powering the new generation of Windows 10 PCs. That includes all of the office apps you know and love.”

Qualcomm Marketing elaborates, “What we are doing is we’re going from discrete components, which is what you are seeing in the competing platforms, to the SoC (System-on-Chip) that Snapdragon has. Things like the modem, GPS, and other components in there like Wi-Fi. Those are all built into the SoC instead of being discrete components. So it takes up much less space on the PCB, allowing for what we are estimating is a 30% reduction in PCB size. The big advantage there is thinner, lighter devices, allowing bigger batteries for longer battery life.”

Qualcomm developed the Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC platform in partnership with Microsoft to enhance portable connectivity, while reducing the weight, lengthening battery life, eliminating an on-board fan, and offering silent operation for the next generation of laptops, 2-in-1s, and tablets. Lenovo, Asus, HP, and other computer manufacturers are already working with the SoC for their latest mobile PCs.

The partnership was an essential element in applying the Snapdragon to PC design. Windows is an x86-based architecture and cannot run natively on ARM-processors, so Qualcomm and Microsoft had to collaborate to develop sophisticated, and fast, emulation technology. Though the new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps will run natively on the new Snapdragon 835, the Win32 programs will be run in emulation mode with the SoC’s kernel. Even so, according to Qualcomm, the performance of this new SoC is competitive with Intel’s Y chips.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC Platform offers compact systems-on-chip (SoC) integration of ARM processors, modem, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Gigabit LTE. Image source: QTI Labs.

A 1-nm transistor technology is what enables the Snapdragon 835 to incorporate all of the processing features and accompanying electronics at a 30% reduction in size compared to competitive technologies, the company says. The electronics includes a Kryo 280 CPU and an Adreno 540 GPU, integrated into the same SoC to eliminate the losses and routing space of interfacing these two technologies on a board. The reduced board space allows mobile PCs to either be smaller and lighter or use much of that space savings to add additional battery capacity. Another potential benefit of the deep integration that Qualcomm incorporated into its SoC is more power-efficient operation, which, combined with extra battery space, can offer 50% longer battery life and up to five times better standby while connected, the company claims.

Another core integrated on-chip is the gigabit Class Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem. This technology operates with commercially viable Carrier Aggregation and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna technology. The Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem is capable of 4X Carrier Aggregation and 4×4 MIMO, and leverages the latest 256-QAM digital modulation technology on the downlink and 64-QAM on the uplink. Moreover, this modem also incorporates Qualcomm’s WTR5975 RF transceiver, which supports both 3.5-GHz and unlicensed 5-GHz frequency bands. As mobile providers leverage cellular LTE, they should make available data plans that the PC can utilize. The Snapdragon 835 supports embedded SIM (eSIM) technology and can be activated without installing an external SIM card.

Qualcomm expects that devices powered by the Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC Platform will be available in later 2017 and cost between $400 and $700 USD.