Qualcomm is rebranding the Snapdragon chipsets, which we knew was coming since Qualcomm is getting close to the end of numbers. We won’t know the full name for this new chipset until Snapdragon Tech Summit kicks off next week from Hawaii. We’ve seen leaks of what the new chipset will be called, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is how good the chipset actually is.
This is the first major naming change for Snapdragon since 2013
The last time Qualcomm changed up its naming scheme, was at CES 2013 when it announced the Snapdragon 800. Prior to this, we had the Snapdragon S1, S2, S3, and S4. Qualcomm was mostly using just one main processor for all smartphones. In fact, the last rebrand was before Snapdragon Tech Summit was a thing. As Qualcomm typically announced its new chipsets at CES back then. In 2013, it moved to the Snapdragon 800, which later found itself in the LG G2. Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 600 alongside the 800, as a lower-end chipset. After that, we got a bunch of different three-digit chipsets from Qualcomm across the Snapdragon 400, 500, 600 and 800 ranges. Until 2018 when the Snapdragon 700 series debuted. Compared to when it was the S series, Qualcomm has really expanded its chipsets to work on phones that are $50 all the way to over $1,000. But this new naming scheme aims to make it simple again. Of course, we’re excited to see what the official name is, as well as everything it entails at Snapdragon Tech Summit next week in Hawaii. Snapdragon has become its own brand for Qualcomm, and with this rebrand, everything will be Snapdragon, including its Automotive chipsets.