Until now, Qualcomm has mostly focused on the mid-range and high-end smartphone segments, while the lower-end market has been dominated by MediaTek, a chipset manufacturer based out of Taiwan. But the California-based company is now hoping to change that by offering an LTE-enabled SoC specifically aimed at the entry-level market.
Dubbed Snapdragon 210, the SoC features four Cortex-A7 CPU cores running at up to 1.1GHz alongside an Adreno 304 GPU, and supports 8MP cameras, display resolutions of up to 720p, 1080p video recording and playback, Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11n WiFi, NFC, GPS, as well as Quick Charge 2.0 for replenishing your phone's battery at a much quicker rate. On the cellular radio side, the chip supports multi-mode 3G as well as dual-mode LTE and dual-SIM.
According to Qualcomm executive vice president Cristiano Amon, the company is specifically aiming at the off-contract sub-$100 smartphones.
The processor could help Qualcomm expand its business in emerging markets like India, China, and Latin America, where more and more people are buying smartphones. Additionally, Qualcomm is also trying to push the processor into tablets as well; the company said that it will start offering technical blueprints, known as reference designs, for LTE-enabled tablets.
The Snapdragon 210 SoC would be available in commercial devices in the first half of the next year. Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) reference tablets based on the SoC would also be available during the same time-frame.