The processing brains in most of the big players in the Android smartphone space come courtesy of chip maker Qualcomm. Now the company has partnered with Asus to make a model of its own for the Snapdragon Insider community.
Qualcomm launched a new community for Snapdragon enthusiasts back in March, and it's billed as a place where fans can "celebrate, engage with, and experience the latest in what Snapdragon has to offer." Members are promised early access to news and announcements, as well as behind-the-scenes access, giveaways, and more.
And now, Insiders will be getting their very own smartphone, too. Given the early access privileges that community members are promised, it is a little surprising to see the device being built around Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 5G platform, rather than the latest Plus flavor, but the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders does have some notable flagship features worth shouting about.
The phone will have a 6.78-inch 2,448 x 1,080-pixel AMOLED Gorilla Glass display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, 1,200 nits of peak brightness, DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of 111.23 percent and 150.89 percent for sRGB, for example. Dual speakers are ready to rock onscreen videos, with some help from the 24-bit/96-kHz Snapdragon Sound Technology, and there are four HDR microphones on board with 114 dB of dynamic range. Interestingly, Qualcomm is including a pair of wireless earbuds from Master & Dynamic in the box for top quality music on the go.
You'll find a 24-MP selfiecam out front, while the rear cameras around back shape up as a 64-MP main camera that rocks a Sony IMX686 image sensor, the 12-MP ultrawide unit gets treated to a dual-pixel IMX363 sensor, and there's an 8-MP telephoto shooter with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Insiders will be able to record 8K UHD video at 30 frames per second, or 4K UHD at up to 60 fps.
Elsewhere, it runs Android 11, there's 512 GB of storage and 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, built-in Wi-Fi 6E and 5G, Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive codec support, dual SIM slots, and a 4,000-mAh battery that supports quick charging up to 65 W via the included charger.
As you might expect, this super-exclusive smartphone comes with quite a high price tag – it will cost Snapdragon Insiders US$1,499, will only come in blue, and is due for release shortly.
Product page: Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders