Snapdragon 845 arriving for Windows later in 2018
A few less experienced journalists asked why Qualcomm decided to launch its first Windows 10 on Snapdragon 835 as the new, faster Snapdragon 845 dawns.
It was interesting to hear that Qualcomm and Microsoft believe that both companies did a great job in a year and that since the first acknowledgement of the project to two announced devices from Asus and HP, has taken only a year.
Traditionally it takes much longer than that, especially since this is the first Snapdragon device that will launch on Windows 10. This has been a big learning curve for Microsoft and Qualcomm on both hardware, drive and software sides.
Snapdragon 835 powered devices will be first, and Asus said it plans to ship its NovaGo Windows 10 on Snapdragon 835 in early 2018, most likely Q1 2018. HP should not be far off and Lenovo will announce its plans at a CES press conference in early January.
Snapdragon 845 machines will follow in the second part of the year and this has been confirmed by the company’s executives incluing the EVP and President of QCT Cristiano Amon. It simply takes time from the announced SoC to a fully ready platform for the Windows 10 PC.
You should see Snapdragon 845 in phones first and most likely in PCs for the back-to-school market by early Q3 2018. Qualcomm executives pointed out that this is a big learning curve for both Microsoft and Qualcomm but that both companies are very confident in its success.
The launch of the PCs and phones might be more in sync with future generations, but this will depend on the success of the early devices that are about to start shipping in the early part of 2018.
