(UK) What Would a World Without Snapdragon Look Like?

It’s 2007 and the first Snapdragon® Mobile Platform chip – the Snapdragon S1 QSD8250 - has just been invented. It’s the spark to what will eventually go on to be a roaring flame of innovation, spanning across smartphones, computers and even space travel. Whether it’s the Samsung Galaxy Book Go 5G, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G or the ASUS ROG 5s Pro, much of the technology we know and love today is powered by the Snapdragon Mobile Platform.

But let’s throw ourselves into a parallel universe for a moment. Imagine we went back to 2007 and removed Snapdragon from the archives. What would the world of smartphones, computers and drones look like today? A scary thought, we know.

As much as we’d love to say that, without Snapdragon, we’d all still be communicating via palimpsest and playing with sticks and stones, that might be taking things just a bit too far. However, it’s no stretch to say phones might not have been as fast as they are today. In 2007, most smartphones were running on 500MHz processors. Snapdragon reinvented the wheel, replacing it with the much faster and more powerful 1 GHz processor. With it came 720p resolution, 3D graphics and a 12-megapixel camera, the likes of which had rarely been seen on a smartphone. Just a year later, 15 smartphone manufacturers were using Snapdragon semiconductors, bringing the modern smartphone into the mainstream.

By 2010, Snapdragon processors were ingrained in 20 available consumer devices, with 120 additional devices set to be released with the Snapdragon processor. The processors were allowing manufacturers to create smartphones which were smaller and had better battery life (remember the days when small smartphones were the ‘it’ gadget!?).

Snapdragon inspired innovation came thick and fast from that moment on. By 2012, the Snapdragon S4 processor, which optimised battery life by adjusting its clock speed and voltage based on the device’s activity, was born. Two years later and 41% of all smartphones were fitted with Snapdragon processors. It was becoming increasingly difficult to buy a smartphone that wasn’t Snapdragon powered.

And, whether it’s facial recognition, a voice-activated assistant or image capturing, today’s smartphones are increasingly reliant on AI. Three guesses at who introduced that into the mainstream. You guessed it – that was us. In 2016, the release of the Qualcomm® Neural Processing SDK was the first AI acceleration in smartphones. So, remember us when you wake up in the morning, hair pointing in every direction, and your smartphone still recognises you and unlocks, allowing you to hit snooze on that Monday morning alarm.

The influence of Snapdragon transcends the world of smartphones, though. In 2017, we officially partnered with Microsoft to grace the world with laptops powered by Snapdragon running Windows 10. Using our technology, HP, Lenovo and Asus were able to release slim, portable laptops, paving the way for a lighter, more streamlined laptop. Meanwhile, modern cars, such as Renault’s Mégane E-TECH Electric, are fitted with the Snapdragon® Digital Chassis™ and Snapdragon Cockpit Platform. This technology is bringing us closer to the promised future of autonomous driving and is changing the very landscape of in-car entertainment.

But, in our story of ‘a world without Snapdragon’, perhaps the biggest difference would be in the history books. When it comes to space travel, everyone always dreams of being the first. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to enter space. And, most importantly, Laika was the first dog to break through the earth’s atmosphere. In 2021, Snapdragon joined this hall of fame. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which was running on a Qualcomm Flight™ Platform, performed the first ever autonomous flight on Mars. This is something which may not have been possible without Snapdragon technology.

So, to sum up, it’s now 2023. You’ve just manually parked outside your house, and you’re pretty pleased because you only knocked into the car behind a couple of times. You come in, throw yourself onto the sofa and whip out your phone to play a game. But you find yourself straining your eyes to tell if that’s a rocket coming towards you or a bird. You check your battery and it’s on 3%, even though you charged it just a couple of hours ago. Suddenly, you get the ‘connectivity lost’ notification and you glitch out of your game. You check your internet connection by Googling ‘Snapdragon’, but all you’re getting is photos of Snapchat and Comodo Dragons. In a panic, you search ‘when was the first autonomous flight on Mars?’ but Google is telling you there’s never been an autonomous flight to Mars.

Okay, we can’t go on any further. A world without Snapdragon is far too stressful to think about. Let’s just be thankful we don’t have to live in that alternate universe because, let’s be honest, the world wouldn’t be anywhere near as cool without us.

Snapdragon, Snapdragon Digital Chassis, Qualcomm Flight, and Qualcomm Neural Processing SDK are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.