Qualcomm will unveil the new Snapdragon X laptop CPU next week to provide electricity to low-cost AI-competent devices in India. The firm has targeted the midrange laptop segment in the country. Chipmaker’s OEM partners are expected to introduce a new copilot+ laptop priced at $ 600 (about 52,000 rupees) and provide support for on-device AI features. The company is also expanding through retail channels – it established the first Snapdragon experience area at a Croma outlet in Mumbai on Thursday.
Before the launch of the new Snapdragon X-Powered Laptop Model, Gadgets 360 sat with Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President of Qualcomm’s product management, to discuss the plans of chipmekar to expand in India and how to expand it in its strategy It fits.
Qualcomm’s efforts to bring their hand-based Snapdragon chips into laptops in India
Kedar Kondap: Our journey began a few years ago – we launched a new CPU, which was Qualcomm Oryan CPU, and we intended to give the best performance, battery life and AI performance. We did this in three different levels – Snapdragon X Elite, Snapdragon X Plus, and new Snapdragon X.
The sweet place for PC in India is $ 600 (about 52,000 rupees). Snapdragon X Elite targeted the PC, which costs more than $ 1,000 (about 86,700 rupees), the price of PC in X Plus is $ 800 (about Rs 69,400) and above, and then above, and then, and the new snapdragon The X is designed for $ 600 (about 52,000 rupees) or more.
The consumer understands Snapdragon in the phone, and we want to run the same relationship with Snapdragon in PC. We launched a new Snapdragon experience area in one of the Flagship Croma Stores in Mumbai. And so, the intention is to familiarize the Indian consumer with the relationship between the phone and the phone and the PC, showing all the different experiences capable of these chipsets.
How the laptop market in India has responded to Snapdragon-powered laptop
Kedar Kondap: I think it’s still too early, but it has been promising. The penetration for PC in India is about 10 percent. We want to ensure that consumers understand the benefits of technology and the progresses in PCs. We did the same with the phone. When you think about premium Android phones, they provide long battery life, CPU and camera performance, reliable GPS, and more. We want to run the same association on PC.
Microsoft has been a great companion. First, they brought all the Copilot+ experiences especially into Snapdragon. At the same time, other PC OEMs like Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS have manufactured their main platform products at various price points from Snapdragon X, X Plus and X Elights in India. This process usually takes some time. We have unveiled many devices in Croma today, and you will hear more than our partners about Snapdragon X on 24 February.
What happened to the retail expansion of Snapdragon, and how to launch an experience area in Croma fits in Qualcomm’s strategy
Kedar Kondap: See, we come from a legacy of the phone, and the way a consumer buys a phone is very different how they buy a PC. Every buyer wants to touch and feel a phone, but still there are a large number of customers who want to try a PC before buying it. Second, especially in India, consumer is related to Snapdragon on phone, but they may not yet be related to Snapdragon PC.
People want to be able to understand what AI really is and what they can do with it on a laptop. There are lots of use cases for creators, students, corporate staff or software engineers. We want people to combine Snapdragon PC with premium experiences with Windows, so that they can try these experiences for themselves in the new Snapdragon experience area when they walk in a croma store. .
On improving compatibility with popular apps dependent by Indian users on Snapdragon-operated laptops
Kedar Kondap: To start, Microsoft telemetry data shows that 93 percent of the apps used globally are natives today. I like to think about app compatibility in three stages. Microsoft did a great job with prism, which is the Arm Emulator that provides reliable performance. Second, we have now got hundreds of apps which are already running on Snapdragon PC.
And in the end, these apps can take advantage of the odd architecture that we have beyond ISV – for example, when the apps walk on the CPU, but some tasks are removed for the GPU and NPU. When you start looking at benefits like better battery life. Therefore for most parts, for consumers in India, most core apps are probably already working on Snapdragon PC.
When it comes to LLMS, we are already working the most – if not all – provider. With our Qualcomm AI Hub, developers can upload and compile all their codes. As long as the app is on the Hub, it is comfortable for the developer to be able to take that application and simply support him. We give them all the equipment that gives it to make it as easy as possible.
Competition in AI-Dravel Computer Market using diverse portfolio of Snapdragon in price segments
Kedar Kondap: One thing we have kept across Snapdragon X, X Plus, and X Elite Chips are the same NPU with 45 tops. We have placed the same DDR in all chips to ensure that all these LLM and generic AI models have all bandwids that they will need, while scaling other parts of technologies. At the same time, the model is also being adapted.
So what you can do with 13 billion parameters models, now you can run like a 20-40 million parameter model while obtaining comparable accuracy. As a result, we can provide reliable performance battery life at the entire level of products, using the same Oryon CPU on that scale, and this is the same 45 top for AI use cases.
Caught on laptops operated by ARM-based processor for a long time on customers’ possibility
Kedar Kondap: If a consumer walks in a store, they need to understand that some heritage devices from non-snapdragon-based architecture do not have NPUs. So you are not doing your shopping in the future-if you buy a PC without performing 45 tops, it can be ‘old’ within a few weeks or months. The generative AI is moving fast, so you will not buy a PC of the future.
When you think of a smartphone, consumers did not upgrade as fast at first. But when he saw the benefits of technology, consumers in India quickly switched to a smartphone with a feature phone, which enabled the facilities like clicking on images, browsing the web, watching material without TV, and so on . Eventually, customers started upgrading to the phone with large -screen or 5G connectivity. So as consumers are more aware of what they are getting, they can be more inclined to spend and use a better device.
The PC market has not seen that level of enthusiasm over the years, but we want to bring it back with Snapdragon experience areas. When consumers start looking at the benefits, such as “Okay, this PC lasts longer”, or “I don’t need external camera, as this PC optimizes the underlying camera performance”, or “it is my time Saves with generous AI features “,,.
Working with educational institutions in India to raise awareness about ARM-based computers
Kedar Kondap: We are attaching many universities around the world, and we are making it as ubiquitous as possible for children and showing them what they can do with AI models on these PCs.
And then, when we want to grow rapidly, we also want to ensure that we understand whether we have resolved any of their application issues before we go to a university. In some student communities, they want a certain set of applications that do not necessarily be ported yet.
Therefore, while it is a big viewer for us, we have to make sure we spend time, working with all developers, like we do in enterprises and commercial places. As part of our developer communities, we also provide access to Snapdragon PCs to help understand the platform.
Comparing Snapdragon-Integrated AI PC with traditional X86 systems that are now beginning to offer AI features
Kedar Kondap: Running everything on the cloud is not financially viable-we need on-device AI, you need some cloud computing, and a hybrid version that uses both. I think it is the fact that everyone is responding by providing access to AI more on-device AI, just tells you where it is going. When it comes to Snapdragon X, I do not think there is a contestant today that supports 45 top performance in that price section.
Making AI-operated technology more accessible through Qualcomm’s retail expansion
Kedar Kondap: We are trained to rebels and sales employees on retail vendors about AI technology available on Snapdragon devices, and we can also perform generic AI tools in experience areas as if we have just opened in Croma. You can show the user what you can do with the device, instead of talking about it only by demonstrating tasks such as image apasting or DJ Pro, which is aimed at the purpose of musicians.
In Qualcomm, we have more than 3,000 engineers in Qualcomm using AI, which have several million lines of code via Codegane. To be able to see that the person is different at a store. The customer also realizes that the PC continues to understand the user and their needs over time. When we are in a retail environment, and retail staff can explain that a customer can get this experience on this $ 600 (about 52,000 rupees) laptop or tax on these additional tasks on $ 1,000 (about 86,700 rupees) model If can, there may be customers. Then decide to buy a laptop with AI facilities based on their budget.
On possible plans to partner with OEMS on exclusive stores
Kedar Kondap: I cannot share the details of what we are doing at this time, but as I said, our first experience area with Croma in India is now open to demonstrate the abilities of Snapdragon PC. We will see how it goes. This is designed to bring us closer to the consumer, while ensuring that the consumer today trusts in a phone, it is what they believe in PC or in XR or, in wearballs or in any other equipment Can provide strength to the consumer. Experience today. Think of it as a journey on which we are and want to be related to the consumer as soon as possible.
Some reactions have been condensed and slightly edited for clarity.
