Qualcomm, Microsoft Join Hands to Support Windows 10 on Mobile Computing Devices Powered by Snapdragon

Chip maker Qualcomm and Microsoft have joined hands to support Windows 10 on mobile computing devices using Snapdragon processors.

The first PCs powered by Snapdragon processors and running Windows 10 are expected to be available by early 2017. Such PCs would be designed to support x86 Win32 and universal Windows apps, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Windows 10 gaming titles.

In his statement, Cristiano Amon, Executive Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said: “With compatibility with the Windows 10 ecosystem, the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform is expected to support mobility to Cloud computing and redefine how people will use their compute devices.”

Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft said: “Bringing Windows 10 to life with a range of thin, light, power-efficient and always-connected devices, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, is the next step in delivering the innovations our customers love.”

Headquartered in San Diego, California, United States, Qualcomm is an American multinational semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company that was founded in 1985 and specializes in designing wireless telecommunication products. Qualcomm has over 200 locations worldwide.

Snapdragon refers to a suite of system on a chip (SoC) semiconductor products designed by Qualcomm for mobile devices. The Snapdragon uses the ARM RISC instruction set in its CPU. There may be multiple CPU cores, a wireless modem, a graphics processing unit (GPU), and other hardware/software in a single SoC.

Snapdragon QSD8250, released in November 2007, was the first Snapdragon product to be made available to consumer device manufacturers. This product included the first 1 GHz processor for mobile phones. The first product of the Snapdragon 800 series was introduced at 2013 CES. Since then, Qualcomm has introduced several new iterations.