LIVE FROM CES 2016: Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf seemed keen to put his company’s recent struggles behind it as the chipset giant unveiled a number of customer wins and new product announcements.

At a press event heavily hyping the firm’s potential in the booming IoT space, Mollenkopf started with its more traditional business line by revealing fast-rising Chinese vendor LeTV as the first announced smartphone customer for its new Snapdragon 820 chipset.

“Last November we said there were 60 devices that will run Snapdragon 820. Now there are over 80,” he commented. The CEO added that LeTV’s use of the product (in its Le Max Pro smartphone) “shows the breadth of customer base that can take advantage of this product.”

The company’s Snapdragon 820 has addressed the overheating problem of its predecessor, the Snapdragon 810 (an issue that saw the San Diego-based vendor lose Samsung as a customer for its Galaxy S6), while also improving the performance and battery life.

Meanwhile Qualcomm announced Audi as a major customer for its 602A automotive processor, with the German carmaker integrating the chipset in 2017 models.

Next up, Mollenkopf said the firm is to launch a Snapdragon 820 version of its automotive processor.

Reflecting on the news, CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber tweeted: “Qualcomm [is] right to shout louder about momentum in auto. 20 million vehicles with Snapdragon LTE modems [is] not to be sniffed [at].”

Smart homes also form part of the firm’s future, with Qualcomm introducing a Smart Home Reference Platform, based upon its Snapdragon 212 processor.

And there was customer progress for its drone efforts, with Tencent and Zerotech demonstrating a commercial drone based on its Snapdragon Flight platform.

Today’s bevy of announcements will boost Qualcomm after a difficult period which saw the vendor carry out a strategic review into its future business model. Last month Qualcomm’s board opted not to split the vendor in two, believing that “the company’s current corporate and financial structure bests positions Qualcomm to maintain its technology leadership and product strength”.