Qualcomm wants to show all its know-how with a phone marketed under its own brand and which incorporates all the latest mobile technologies. Unfortunately, the technical demonstration is not that impressive.
Omnipresent in the world of mobile processors, the American company Qualcomm announced on July 8, 2021 its own smartphone. Built in collaboration with Asus, the mobile is sold as a showcase for the very latest mobile technologies imagined by the company.
A $ 1,500 phone just for fans
This is the first time that Qualcomm released a mobile under its own brand. The company is usually content to supply components to the various mobile manufacturers, in particular its famous Snapdragon chips which equip a good bunch of phones on the market.
Reserved for members of the Qualcomm community, the mobile that will be sold for $ 1,500 seeks to convince those who have ” thirst for 5G “And who are looking for” top-notch performance and innovations “. But in practice, the mobile that Qualcomm is not even bored to name does not bring anything exactly new to the market.
Despite the fact that it is sold by the company behind the Snapdragon chips, the phone does not even ship the very latest 888+ processor announced at the end of June, preferring the standard 888 announced at the end of 2020. Its technical sheet is certainly impressive with three cameras, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, global 5G compatibility, and a 144Hz display, but despite Qualcomm’s great promises, the phone doesn’t really seem to stand out from the competition.
A shaky technological showcase
Other ultra high-end phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra display similar technical characteristics, making Qualcomm’s phone quite common in the market after all. To make matters worse, the company has not committed to an Android update schedule beyond version 11 which comes preinstalled on the phone. On the other hand, security updates will be guaranteed for 4 years.
Qualcomm’s mobile is therefore a quirk reserved for the community of fans of the brand. This positioning is strangely assumed by Mike Roberts, product manager at Qualcomm, who explains that “ this smartphone is not made to compete with our equipment manufacturers ”, But simply to show what Qualcomm can do best.
Too bad this showcase does not include the very latest mobile chip to date, does not have update guarantees and does not bring anything very new.
