Qualcomm, which has been known for its smartphone processors for over 2 decades has been diversifying into newer opportunities like laptops, automobiles, wearables, and IoT. It makes a lot of sense for any chipmaker to diversify the end-markets for two reasons. The opportunity to sell more units in smartphones is becoming harder, and the digital lifestyle of consumers demands more smart devices.
In 2023, Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon X Elite for PCs at the Huawei Summit. Powered by Qualcomm Hexagon NPU this could go up to 45 TOPS, capable of running GenAI LLMs with over 13 billion parameters on-device. The Snapdragon X also powered by Qualcomm Hexagon NPU too goes up to 45 TOPS. The only major difference between X and X Elite is of cores. X has an 8 core Orion CPU, while X Elite has 12 core Orion CPU. In both the cases that’s huge!
AI in devices is not a surprise anymore. Everyone expects it. Our AI smartphone report announced today, has comprehensive insights about how AI is becoming the default interface between humans and the smartphones. But what is making the space exciting and interesting is on-device AI. That is a game changer! Especially for India. In Indian context, it’s not only about privacy and being concerned about data getting on to the cloud. Its also about the patchy network quality, where Internet isn’t giving a seamless experience across the cities and towns. Still, we have pockets that have patchy networks. The other issue is also of affordability. Despite, our data costs being one of the most affordable, many potential customers aren’t able to subscribe to a stable service like home broadband, which could cost them anywhere more than ₹1,000 a month. Especially students. Yes, it might appear a meagre amount, but we have millions of homes, if not more, where parents can either sponsors a ₹1,000 pm EMI for laptop or Internet connectivity. Of course, EMI for laptop takes priority. Now, with the recent relaxations announced in the Budget 2025, this should ease somewhere, as those earning up to ₹12 Lakhs per annum don’t have to pay any income tax.
Photo Credits – Qualcomm India
Qualcomm has introduced Snapdragon X platform in India powering 2 laptops which can comfortably run AI on-device. Microsoft’s prescribed Copilot+ requirement is 40 TOPS, while both X and X Elite go up to 45 TOPS and exceed the threshold. Along with this, Qualcomm also had India leadership of all major laptop makers including Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo at the Snapdragon X launch event in Delhi. The presence only reinforced their commitment in X, and in coming months, we should witness many more laptop launches on Snapdragon with on-device AI.
India is the capital of startups. Our professionals and students are zealous aspiring for not just their own growth but creating value for world. While we do see the evils of Internet, especially social media on the rise and consuming a lot of productive time of our youth, at the same time we have focused youngsters who don’t want to lose any moment and remain productive.
With Snapdragon X opening up a new tier of on-device AI laptops, this should make AI accessible to many and they need not to worry of overheads like bandwidth and cloud costs. Post covid-19, we are witness to how cloud computing costs have gone up anywhere between 20-45%. The operator tariffs in India have also risen on the pretext of telecom providers wanting to improve financial health. In this scenario, on-device AI laptops become very relevant in India. The Snapdragon moment in PC world is very timely and has a great potential to create a great impact at the society at large.
Who knows the next unicorn application could be developed on Snapdragon X powered laptop somewhere airborne, with absolutely no connectivity but only NPU with 45 TOPS, and may be more in future!
