Qualcomm gave details on April 7 about a future high-end smartphone chip, including faster download speeds as well as 64-bit technology, which is quickly becoming standard. Due to appear in smartphones in 2015, the Snapdragon 810 is Qualcomm's latest bid to use its edge in wireless technology to maintain its marketshare lead in semiconductors for mobile devices.
The 810 chip includes new, faster WiFi features as well as a 4G modem that Qualcomm says downloads data at twice the speed of chips made with its previous technology. The chip also allows for video recording and playback at "4K" ultra-high resolution.
Following Apple's launch last year of its first iPhone made with a 64-bit processor, Qualcomm and other chipmakers have been rushing to roll out their own 64-bit technology, which reduces the gap between low-power mobile processors and punchier chips used in laptops, desktop PCs and servers. Qualcomm is announcing its newest chip before the preceding chip in its high-end line-up, the 805, has even begun to appear in smartphones. The 805 is due to appear in smartphones around mid-2014.
Current smartphones, including Apple's, do not have enough memory to give 64-bit processors an advantage over more widely used 32-bit chips, but future phones will be made with enough memory to give the 64-bit processors a performance boost.
Before 64-bit features can be taken advantage of in phones, the software and operating systems they rely on will also have to be overhauled, a major undertaking for the industry.