A surprise announcement was made at this year’s Snapdragon Tech Summit. In addition to the expected news of new flagship mobile and PC processors, Qualcomm announced a brand-new platform for its newly introduced gaming series — the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform.
According to Qualcomm’s CEO, Cristiano Amon, “The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform is designed for mobile gamers, and it should inspire new handheld gaming form factors beyond phones.
In an interview with the Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, Micah Knapp, the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 was created to address the need for a gaming-first platform.
With the mobile gaming segment having seen tremendous growth over the years, Qualcomm saw the need to offer a purpose-built system that will offer gamers a brand-new experience. The kind that allows them to play all types of games across different platforms all on one device.
Snapdragon G3x Gen 1-powered devices will be equipped with powerful components and new features that aim to offer maximum performance, control, and immersion. They will be equipped with top-tier specs that were all designed to maximize the gaming experience like high frame rate displays, long battery life, and more.
Knapp assures that the platform will be powerful enough to stream and play from their PCs or consoles even if users are in a different country.
To even further empower its mobile gaming segment, Qualcomm has also introduced the Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit to help sustain and enhance performance.
Unlike the smartphones of today that heat up during intensive and extended gameplay, developers will be able to create devices free of this thanks to the massive thermal headroom. In addition to that, the platform allows for dedicated thumbsticks and buttons that further enhance the gaming experience.
While Qualcomm’s new platform is extremely promising, it may still be a while before we see it on the market.
“Everbody loves hardware, but gamers follow content,” says Knapp. “We have to serve the developers first.”
Qualcomm is first focusing on answering the needs of the developer community and making them aware of the platform and its power. Once titles are available and the “pipeline is primed,” Knapp welcomes OEMs to create the hardware to deliver to consumers.