{"id":3912,"date":"2021-03-24T00:55:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T00:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1343974"},"modified":"2021-03-24T00:55:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T00:55:33","slug":"report-qualcomm-is-making-an-android-powered-switch-lookalike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=3912","title":{"rendered":"Report: Qualcomm is making an Android-powered Switch lookalike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/plugged?filter_last=1&amp;fit=1280%2C640&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2021%2F03%2FQualcomm-Swith.jpg&amp;signature=999f7af4d54ac96e21f06872638a163e\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Qualcomm, the company that makes the chipsets for a huge chunk of Android phones, is apparently gearing up to get into the gaming business. Not just as a chip supplier either; according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidpolice.com\/2021\/03\/23\/exclusive-qualcomm-is-planning-an-android-powered-nintendo-switch-knockoff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">report by Android Police<\/a>, the company is making its own gaming console to show off the power of its Snapdragon chipsets.<\/p>\n<p>As is <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2020\/01\/06\/alienwares-concept-ufo-is-basically-a-nintendo-switch-on-steroids-and-i-want-one\/\">so popular these days<\/a>, the console is expected to look a whole lot like a Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n<p>Android Police reports it was able to observe \u201cnon-final\u201d&nbsp;images of the console, which showcased a device with detachable controllers made by a \u201cpremium\u201d supplier. The central screen portion, meanwhile, \u201cresembles a thicker, bulkier smartphone.\u201d This extra bulk would give Qualcomm\u2019s chips more thermal headroom to run at high speeds for longer than possible in a compact smartphone form factor.<\/p>\n<p>Other details from the report:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The device might have a 6.65-inch screen, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MishaalRahman\/status\/1374447532756004879\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">according to XDA\u2019s Mishaal Rahman<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The screen might have an FHD+ panel.<\/li>\n<li>It would come with a 6,000 mAh battery.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019ll be able to dock to a TV or monitor.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019ll have an SD card slot for expandable storage.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019ll run Andriod 12 with a custom launcher and \u201cfull support\u201d of Google apps.<\/li>\n<li>It might also come with the Epic Games Store at launch.<\/li>\n<li>Qualcomm is targeting a Q1 2022 launch, so it\u2019ll probably run on next-gen processors.<\/li>\n<li>The usual phone specs like Bluetooth, 5G, GPS, accelerometers, and haptics will be in tow, but it\u2019s unlikely to work as a dedicated phone.<\/li>\n<li>The company is hoping to price the device at just $300.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While I do dig the Switch form factor and have wished other consoles would adopt similar designs for portable play, I can\u2019t but help but be skeptical. It\u2019s not easy for companies to break into the gaming business \u2014 not even for companies as big as Qualcomm. There\u2019s a reason the console market has been a triopoly for so long.<\/p>\n<p>If Qualcomm tried to create a new gaming platform altogether, it would be difficult for the company to pull developers from the competition. Let\u2019s just say history <a href=\"https:\/\/www.extremetech.com\/gaming\/291883-early-kickstarter-success-ouya-is-shutting-down-for-good#:~:text=After%20struggling%20for%20years%2C%20Ouya,promise%20of%20a%20%24100%20product.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">hasn\u2019t been kind<\/a> to new players in a videogame market. In any case, it seems unlikely Qualcomm would go this route, considering the emphasis on full Android compatibility.<\/p>\n<p>But if Qualcomm is just going to ask users to play existing Android titles on its fancy Switch clone, I find it hard to believe users would flock to the platform \u2014 especially when there are already a fair number of <span>gaming-oriented<\/span>&nbsp;phones.<\/p>\n<p>Android Police says Qualcomm isn\u2019t expecting overnight success, but rather the company is hoping to inspire its partners to explore new form factors. That idea isn\u2019t a totally crazy idea; that\u2019s effectively what Microsoft did with the Surface line. And if the company could really keep the price down to $300, it might just encourage some early adopters to invest in the platform. But I\u2019m still skeptical.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is a pre-production leak, so anything can change between now and launch \u2014 or the product could be scrapped altogether. Still, it\u2019s interesting to see Qualcomm looking to sell a product directly to consumers for a change.<\/p>\n<p><i>Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/share.hsforms.com\/1tNyJLC_3RjuVWih9ygK_6A47gef\">and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-post-pubDate\"> Published March 24, 2021 \u2014 00:55 UTC <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/24\/qualcomm-might-copy-nintendo-switch\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Qualcomm, the company that makes the chipsets for a huge chunk of Android phones, is apparently gearing up to get into the gaming business. Not just as a chip supplier either; according&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}