Qualcomm hailed broad support for its Snapdragon 865 mobile 5G platform, noting more than 70 device design wins since it was unveiled in early December 2019, as it also highlighted progress across its XR, PC and RAN businesses.

Devices using the platform include the newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy S20 line, Sony Xperia 1 II, and Realme X50 Pro, along with models from ASUS, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo, Redmi, Vivo, Zenfone and ZTE, among others.

At a press conference, Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon said the wins are evidence of the company’s “hard work to not only lead in 5G, but develop the processing capabilities and multimedia capabilities that will unlock the new use cases enabled by 5G speed and latency”.

Qualcomm also revealed 17 operators around the world had signed on to deliver connectivity for PCs powered by its Snapdragon 8-series mobile compute platform: a company representative told Mobile World Live commitments varied by operator, but typically covered offering data and eSIM packages along with retail backing.

It noted adoption of its FSM100xx RAN products continues to grow, with Airspan Networks; Altiostar; Baicells Technologies; Corning; Radisys; Rakuten Mobile; Samsung; Sercomm; the Small Cell Forum; T&W Electronics, a China-based provider of broadband terminal equipment; and Verizon all partnering in this field.

VR/AR
The company also took the wraps off a new reference design for companies using its Snapdragon XR2 platform for VR/AR hardware.

Developed by Chinese acoustic and hardware components maker Goertek, the design includes compatibility for a host of tracking features, including up to seven cameras for enhanced following of head and eye movements along with improved depth mapping; an infrared (IR) emitter for hands; electromagnetic following of controllers and peripheral devices; and 3D audio capabilities for voice commands.

The design is intended to accelerate development of commercial AR/VR products. But Rafael Camargo, VP of hardware at Facebook, noted the future of the segment is “fundamentally dependent on the capabilities of the network growing”.

“A lot of the work we’re doing in VR and AR…is to now make it ubiquitous, sort of allowing you to teleport yourself anywhere, anytime.”

However, he said Facebook’s vision is “not doable without the 5G pieces”.