Qualcomm’s longer term bet on the automotive sector as a lucrative customer base for its chips and related communications technology is getting a significant push today: The company announced that it is acquiring Autotalks, a fabless chipmaker out of Israel that builds semiconductor and system-on-a-chip technology to aid in automotive safety; sources tell us Qualcomm is paying between $350 million and $400 million for the startup. Autotalks’ tech is used in sensors that help vehicles (which can be bikes, cars or another form of mobility) and their drivers detect road hazards such as oncoming v ..read more

Qualcomm announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that multiple phone makers including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola, Nothing and Honor are bringing satellite communication capabilities to their phones. However, manufacturers didn’t provide details about what devices will first have these features and when the companies would launch them. Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon Satellite tech in partnership with satellite service provider Iridium at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month. Using this solution, smartphones can have capabilities of two-way texting and other messaging applicat ..read more

Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are joining hands to make a mixed-reality platform. Executives from the companies, namely Samsung’s TM Roh, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, and Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer came onstage at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event to make this announcement. These companies only announced the partnership — they had no future device or hardware product to show. “We are working to create a new era of highly immersive digital experiences that blur the line between our physical and digital worlds. With our Snapdragon XR tech, Samsung’s amazing products, and Google experiences we have ..read more

For the past several CESes, Qualcomm’s big announcements have largely revolved around automotive news. There will likely still be a fair bit of that this week, as well, but the company just announced an upcoming mobile feature in this down time between the Snapdragon Summit and MWC. The Southern California chipmaker is partnering with Iridium to bring satellite messaging to select Android devices, starting with those running its new flagship SoC, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The technology utilizes the 5G Modem-RF Systems on the Qualcomm hardware, coupled with Iridium’s satellite constellation to deliv ..read more

It’s that time of year again. It can drop 20 degrees on any given day, and we’re stuck indoors watching people watch Qualcomm announce new chips and reference designs in sunny Hawaii. The Snapdragon Summit is the component-maker’s annual opportunity to map out its big plans for the next year, ahead of the holiday scrum and product deluge of CES and MWC. It’s an ideal time to pepper the industry with some timeline news items. Many of the major manufacturers are effectively finished announcing hardware for the year, and things won’t really ramp up for another couple of months. The big news is, n ..read more

At its Build conference in May, Microsoft debuted Project Volterra, a device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform designed to let developers explore “AI scenarios” via Qualcomm’s Neural Processing SDK for Windows toolkit. Today, Volterra — now called Windows Dev Kit 2023 — officially goes on sale, priced at $599 and available from the Microsoft Store in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. Here’s how Microsoft describes it: With Windows Dev Kit 2023, developers will be able to bring their entire app development process onto one compact device, giving th ..read more

Today in New York City, OnePlus held its first in-person launch event in two-plus years. That’s a lot of time away for a company that’s leaned so heavy on its fanbase for previous launches. Accordingly, the Gotham Hall event packed in fans and members of the press. COVID-19 may still be looming, but the OPPO-owned firm is using its second flagship release of 2022 to reembrace some of those roots. Turns out there’s plenty of lead time for the OnePlus 10T. Preorders of the device open just under a month from now, and the handset will finally start shipping September 29. So, plenty of time to mak ..read more

BMW Group has tapped Valeo to provide the advanced driver assistance system for the automaker’s new electric vehicle platform due to launch in 2025. The deal, a significant win for Valeo, also holds importance for BMW. The automaker is aiming to capture a 50% market share of global EV sales by the end of the decade and sees its new EV platform, called Neue Klasse, as the key to reaching that target. The partnership also gives a bit more insight into BMW’s changing strategy around EVs. Valeo will provide the sensors and software for parking and maneuvering BMW’s next generation of EVs, as well ..read more

Say what you will — Nothing knows how to tease a teaser. In the hardware startup’s defense, it noted that this morning’s event would be a “roadmap” reveal, specifically referring to another device coming to its lineup, without offering much in the way of information on said product. The company has, however, confirmed the much-rumored arrival of its second hardware offering, the Nothing Phone (1). We confirmed the device’s existence earlier this month, noting that founder Carl Pei had been taking meetings with high-ranking executives at Mobile World Congress, where he showed off a version of t ..read more

In a formalization of an earlier Twitter-led push to try to exert influence over fast-forming European digital regulations, the social media firm has used its Twitter Spaces platform to host the official kick off of a policy advocacy lobby group that’s being branded the Open Internet Alliance (OIA). Alongside Twitter, video streaming platform Vimeo; Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Tumblr; the Czech and Slovak focused search engine company, Seznam; and Jodel, a Berlin-based (profile-less) social network, are named as founding members. Twitter said the establishment ..read more