The first 2nm ‘N2P’ chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek are scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2026, and while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and Dimensity 9600 Pro might share the same lithography, their pricing difference is what will determine their adoption, or lack thereof. Looking at the contrasting figures, MediaTek has an excellent opportunity to chip away at Qualcomm’s market share, as its flagship SoC is said to be 28 percent cheaper. Dimensity 9600 Pro is rumored to be priced at $216, whereas Qualcomm could charge upwards of $300 We’ve previously reported that the Snapdragon 8 Elite […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/mediatek-dimensity-9600-pro-cheaper-than-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro/

Qualcomm, one of the largest suppliers of chips for consumer electronics, ranging from smartphones and laptops, to standalone VR headsets and more, is set to raise the prices of its processors in yet another blow to the consumer electronics market. 

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Qualcomm is set to raise its chip prices by “double digit” percentages. Unfortunately for Valve, the Steam Frame standalone VR device is built around a Qualcomm chip.

It is not just Valve that would be impacted by a significant increase in Qualcomm chip prices. Qualcomm chips are used in all kinds of devices, from ARM-based laptops to smartphones, TVs, and more, so such a move would impact most major tech companies. Aside from increased prices, there is also likely going to be a chip shortage in the coming year too, as most companies rely on TSMC for manufacturing their processors, and TSMC can't keep up with the increasing demand from customers like Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia and others. The end result will be less chip supply for consumer electronics, as well as increased prices.

The good news for Steam Frame buyers is that Valve already has units produced and ready to go, which won't be impacted by any component cost increases. However, future supply could be impacted, so if you don't get one during the first wave, you could be left paying more later. The same goes for the Steam Machine if RAM and SSD prices continue to climb.

KitGuru Says: The Steam Machine and Steam Frame were both incredibly promising looking products when they were announced last year. Unfortunately, the hardware market has continued to get worse since then. 

The post Qualcomm reportedly set to raise chip prices first appeared on KitGuru.

Each year, Qualcomm introduces a new upscaling technology that’s marketed as a game-changing feature, with the company now rumored to bring AI Frame Fusion exclusively to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. While we should be excited for what the feature brings to the table, we’ve also realized that without any meaningful use cases, with the most important one being increased gaming performance, the feature will practically be useless. Standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 to miss out on AI Frame Fusion due to the lack of Matrix ALU blocks Similar to how the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-ai-frame-fusion-exclusive-feature/

Another company that has thrown in the towel during the DRAM shortage is Qualcomm, with the latest report stating that the chipset manufacturer tried to hold off for as long as it could, but the company eventually caved in. Various unnamed products are expected to become pricier, with those likely being the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. Increased 2nm wafer costs, low smartphone demand, causing Qualcomm to bring a price hike An update from Bloomberg mentions that Qualcomm sent a letter to customers on Friday, informing them that the double-digit price hike would […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-price-hike-supplier-costs/

The AI boom has favored Samsung like no other event, but this phase has also given the Korean giant motivation to challenge competitors it would typically steer clear of. Likely driven by a new confidence wave, a new report states that the Korean giant is now developing an AI accelerator using its 4nm process called “Gaia” and will enter the PC market by taking on Qualcomm and NVIDIA. Prototypes of Gaia have already been shipped to potential customers, with the possibility that this AI accelerator is paired with Samsung’s next-generation DRAM Sporting an optimized internal structure for its NPU, Samsung’s […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsung-developing-ai-accelerator-to-take-on-qualcomm-and-nvidia/

A major change expected with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max was that it was incessantly reported to be Apple’s first flagship series to ship without any Snapdragon 5G modem, exclusively sporting the company’s new C2 baseband chip. Unfortunately, valuable information taken from the Tata leak reveals that Apple will be relying on Qualcomm for another year. The iPhone 18 Pro could also retain Apple’s N1 wireless networking chip, but feature a decent camera upgrade over the iPhone 17 Pro Based on the details we’ve received in an email, we believe that the C2 versions of the iPhone […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/iphone-18-pro-could-launch-in-both-snapdragon-and-c2-5g-modem-variants/

Jim Keller isn't bothered by Cerebras's recent IPO and says that he welcomes it, but Tenstorrent will still beat them on everything. Tenstorrent CEO, Jim Keller, Signals Deal With Intel or Qualcomm While Promising To Beat Cerebras "on everything" Tenstorrent recently introduced its latest BlackHole Galaxy server, a system with which it can disrupt the entire AI segment, with performance levels that crush the competition. We covered the announcement last month when the company demoed its Blackhole server undercutting a NVIDIA GB300 with up to five times better TCO. Keller Accepts The Challenge To Beat NVIDIA, Cerebras & Others At […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/jim-keller-cerebras-ipo-was-helpful-tenstorrent-to-beat-them-on-everything/

Qualcomm will introduce its first 2nm chipsets later this year, but don’t expect these SoCs to share the same capabilities just because they utilize the same lithography. In fact, a tipster shares some specification differences between the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 to show the ‘Pro’ version will only be found in the ‘top of the line’ flagships arriving next year. Despite sporting the same CPU cluster, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro boasts a better GPU, increased graphics memory, and more We’ve mentioned before that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-vs-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-differences-mentioned-in-rumor/

Qualcomm has introduced its first-ever CPU designed for Data Centers, the Dragonfly C1000, which leverages the Oryon architecture. Qualcomm Enters The Agentic AI CPU Race With Dragonfly C1000 Chip, Oryon-Based With Over 5 GHz Clocks, Over 250 Cores, & Aims To Achieve Single-Core Leadership One of the biggest announcements by Qualcomm today was its first release of a CPU for the data center segment, called the Dragonfly C1000. This is a chip purpose-built for Agentic AI & General-Purpose workloads, delivering best-in-class power efficiency and TCO. As per Qualcomm, the Dragonfly C1000 is based on a custom-designed Oryon core architecture that […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-single-core-leadership-first-server-cpu-dragonfly-c1000-250-cores-5-ghz-2028/

Qualcomm is unveiling its breakthrough for the AI data center market called HBC (High-Bandwidth Compute), to break the memory wall. Qualcomm's HBC Is A Memory Accelerator That Is Stacked Under DRAM, Offering A Major Boost Versus Standard SRAM & HBM Configurations At its Investors Day 2026, Qualcomm unveiled HBC under its Dragonfly brand, an innovative technology that aims to offer a major boost in memory capacity and bandwidth. The HBC architecture deploys a purpose-built & near-memory solution that bonds compute with boosted memory bandwidth in a 3D stacked chip design. With this, Qualcomm aims to solve the memory bottlenecks that […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-hbc-stacks-compute-beneath-dram-to-smash-the-ai-memory-wall/

Qualcomm is expanding its chip-design services to China as it is reportedly in early talks with ByteDance. China's ByteDance To Get Custom-Chip Design Assistance From Qualcomm As It Expands Its Revenue Beyond Smartphones Custom-chip designs are picking up momentum across the tech industry, and a report by Reuters suggests that Qualcomm might be assisting ByteDance, a leading Chinese firm, with chip-design services. Although the talks between Qualcomm and ByteDance are still early, if they succeed, then that would make ByteDance one of the first customers of Qualcomm's chip-design services. The move will also help Qualcomm diversify its revenue, breaking its […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-helping-china-bytedance-custom-chip-design-services-acquires-modular/

We are at Qualcomm Investor Day 2026 where the company is talking High Bandwidth Compute, its HBM alternative, Its Dragonfly C1000 CPU, and AI accelerators

The post Qualcomm Investor Day 2026 Data Center Announcements CPUs, AI Accelerators, and More appeared first on ServeTheHome.

Qualcomm is working on a new refresh of its existing Snapdragon X2 CPU family, which will feature various options. Snapdragon X2 Refresh Might Be Coming Before Next-Gen X3 Series, As Qualcomm Starts Listing Various Configurations The Snapdargon X2 lineup comes in three flavors: X2 Elite Extreme, X2 Elite, and X2 Plus. The CPU family starts at 6 cores and goes all the way up to 18 cores. This year at Computex 2026, we saw the launch of the entry-tier Qualcomm C-Series chips, but these aren't the same as Snapdragon X2 offerings. While Qualcomm should be working on its next-generation X3 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-preps-snapdragon-x2-cpu-refresh-stalling-x3-as-memory-shortages-bite/

The ARM-based ecosystem has been graced by another entrant in the form of NVIDIA’s RTX Spark, and with its arrival in laptops this fall, Qualcomm and Apple should feel a little hint of worry, mainly in one category, because they have had years to address a problem existing in these notebook SoCs and have failed to do so. Well, the clock is ticking for these two companies. Gaming continues to be a weakness for both Apple Silicon and Snapdragon, with only a decent experience possible by spending top-tier funds on the M5 Max Before the arrival of RTX Spark, having […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/rtx-spark-is-kryptonite-for-apple-and-qualcomm-in-one-area/

Imitation remains the highest form of flattery. After Samsung won plaudits for the Exynos 2600's novel Heat Path Block (HPB) thermal technology, Qualcomm, whose recent chips iterations have resembled a veritable inferno when it comes to their runaway heat issues, now appears to be flattering Samsung by copying its HPB tech for the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, albeit sloppily so. Qualcomm appears to be trying to tame the furnace-like credentials of its Snapdragon chips by emulating Samsung's most innovative thermal solution While clarifying that Qualcomm has prepared two and not six versions of its Snapdragon 8 Elite […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-is-copying-samsung-exynos-2600s-heat-path-block-for-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-but-has-botched-the-implementation/

A previous leak revealing that there could be potentially six versions of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro has been clarified by new findings showing the block diagrams of Qualcomm’s first 2nm chipset. To minimize the confusion, the San Diego firm is prepping just two variants, one with LPDDR5X RAM support, while the top-end one will offer LPDDR6. However, don’t count out Qualcomm introducing binned models of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, because the way its handset business is hurting, it’ll need to adopt the “Apple” approach. Top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro may also offer Qualcomm […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-block-diagrams-show-evidence-of-only-two-versions/

Qualcomm appears determined to squeeze out Exynos 2700 from the upcoming Galaxy S27 series, and has prepared as many as six Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro variants to render Samsung Mobile spoilt for choice. Samsung LSI, however, is now reportedly equally adamant at not letting Qualcomm eat its lunch and is preparing an apt "response" to this gambit. Samsung's Galaxy S27 series is emerging as an unequivocal winner in the ongoing tussle between Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro variants and Samsung LSI's Exynos 2700 chip As we reported recently, Qualcomm is preparing as many as six variants […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsung-lsi-plots-exynos-2700-counterattack-with-just-60-yields-as-qualcomm-floods-galaxy-s27-with-six-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-variants/

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said Tuesday that the company is working on over 40 different AI wearable devices — including jewelry, earbuds with cameras, pins, and watches — a sign of how aggressively the chipmaker is betting that the next major computing platform won't be a phone.

The back episodes finally make it online, this is number 3 in a series of episodes that did not get posted, but are now!
Brett is out (which is why these didn't…

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