Two big surprises were dropped on attendees and those who live streamed Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021: Qualcomm Technologies unveiled the all-new Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform and the Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit.

We sat down with Micah Knapp, senior director of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, to ask five burning questions about the latest breakthroughs in Snapdragon gaming.

1. What is the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform and why did Qualcomm Technologies create it?

There are 2.5 billion mobile gamers in the world. Combined, mobile, PC, and console games generate about $175B a year. More than half of that — $90-$120B — is generated from mobile games. And it keeps growing. For context, the film industry in 2020 generated less than $45B. Essentially, mobile gaming is a huge entertainment segment, maybe one of the largest in the world, and a huge opportunity.

The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform is purpose-built and designed to create a new category of dedicated gaming devices. Based on our experience with Snapdragon Elite Gaming features and technology, we constructed a gaming platform that lets you play the types of games the majority of gamers love to play: mobile games. But here’s what’s awesome about it. In addition to access to a huge library of Android mobile games, you can stream and play PC games, cloud games, and console games. The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform allows you to play all your favorite games, no matter what platform, on one device.

This capability speaks to the fact that the chipsets inside mobile devices are extremely capable. They can generate truly premium, immersive gaming experiences. Now we’re creating a platform that allows you to fully experience the power, performance, and user experience required for mobile gaming. We built the platform with the idea that we were going to unleash everything — we are going to give developers and gamers as much performance as possible.

2. Why is Qualcomm Technologies making this now?

Currently there really are no bespoke game devices in the mobile space. The interesting thing is that mobile gaming is the most prevalent and fastest growing gaming segment by far, yet there are no mobile devices dedicated solely to mobile gaming. Because of this large, unmet need, we built a handheld mobile device dedicated to gaming — one that satisfies this unique opportunity within the gaming segment.

For now, we’ve built the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform — the chipset — and the Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit so that developers can explore its capabilities and take full advantage of the controllers, massive thermal headroom, and large, high frame rate screen.

3. How will it transform the gaming experience?

Because the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform is loaded with top-tier specs, gamers will experience max performance, control, and immersion. First, they’ll have the best possible sustained performance. The big challenge you have with many of the high-end, heavy games is that frame rates start to drop as the device heats up. In active sequences particularly, performance starts to get janky. The Snapdragon G3x Handheld Developer Kit all but eliminates that and allows you to run at the highest possible levels of performance and stay there. It also contains a large battery so you can play without worrying about battery life. And the device has dedicated controllers — thumbsticks and buttons — for better control and fidelity, and a larger, unobstructed field of play. And of course, the library of games is truly amazing — you can play console games, PC games, and cloud games all through streaming, as well as your favorite Android games… it’s cross-platform for virtually anywhere you go.

So now gamers can enjoy multiple ways to play. You can stream from a PC or game console to your Snapdragon G3x Gaming Platform in another room or stream remotely from another country. You could even stream from a cloud service, without even having to own a PC or game console.

The ability to stream from your console is a huge feature and can resolve the “conflict of resources” challenge at home. Imagine you want to watch a streaming movie and your 12-year-old wants to use the console to game online with friends. With the Snapdragon G3x Gaming Platform, your child can go into another room, stream a game from the console and play while you watch the most popular streaming movie or series of the week. Everyone’s happy.

4.  What will developers get out of it?

Developers always want more, pushing for a better platform that allows them to do more — like adding more visual and motion effects, and being able to model the physical world more accurately. They’re driven to create more immersive experiences so more gamers will play their games and play more often. But they don’t want to worry about overheating devices and throttling performance. That’s a big challenge for developers: getting the game they envision into the thermal space they’re allowed. The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform really opens it up for them.

5. How can consumers get their hands on it?

Everybody loves hardware, but gamers follow content. We have to serve the developer community first, making them aware of what’s possible now and empowering them to create the titles we think they can build. Once the pipeline is primed, the OEMs can come in and create the gaming hardware for consumers to enjoy.

* Cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity required Snapdragon and Snapdragon Elite Gaming are products of Qualcomm Technologies and/or its subsidiaries.