Qualcomm

Every year Qualcomm launches a premium mobile processor that usually finds its way into the top Android phones of the next 12 months, and it's just unveiled the Snapdragon 855 system-on-a-chip (SoC) for 2019. Its headline features are 5G connectivity and yet more AI performance boosts.

The Snapdragon 835 dominated flagship Android phones in 2017, appearing in the likes of the Google Pixel 2, the Samsung Galaxy S8+, the HTC U11, and others. Now Qualcomm has unveiled its successor, the Snapdragon 845 system-on-a-chip (SoC), ready to help your smartphone do even more in 2018.

Chip giant Qualcomm has announced new fingerprint scanning and authentication technology at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, technology that should make it easier for manufacturers to embed fingerprint scanners under the display of any smartphone.

Renault, Qualcomm Technologies and sustainable transportation company Vedecom recently demonstrated a dynamic wireless electric vehicle charging (DEVC) system – it lets electric cars draw power from the road, as they're in motion.

Several benefits previously exclusive to Qualcomm's high-end 800 series processors are coming to the mid-ranged 600 series. If smartphone makers push these chips to their full capabilities, budget phones could have much more to offer.

Ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco – which both begin at the end of this week – Qualcomm has announced plans to help software developers and hardware manufacturers utilize its products to power cutting-edge VR experiences.

Those of you who pore over smartphone specs will recognize Qualcomm as the major player in mobile processors and charging standards, and the US company has just announced its latest technologies ready for the flagships of 2017.

More robust connections would certainly help nudge things along and usher in applications like drone deliveries, and AT&T believes it has a role to play. The company will soon kick off trials designed to test how drones perform on its commercial 4G LTE and future networks such as 5G.​

In February, Qualcomm ushered in its SnapDragon Wear line with the 2100 SoC designed as the brain for multi-purpose wearable devices such as smartwatches. At Computex 2016 the company has extended the line with the SnapDragon Wear 1100 intended for smaller, targeted-purpose wearables.

Qualcomm has provided some new details on its upcoming top shelf mobile chip, the Snapdragon 820. The processor, which is expected to appear in flagship phones in 2016, will have improved fast charging tech and the speediest LTE yet.

Forget heads-up displays, Mini is hoping to bring technology to your car in the form of a pair of connected eyewear. Called Mini Augmented Vision, the smart glasses work sort of like Google Glass and project information in front of you relevant to your drive.

The Samsung Gear VR is the best piece of virtual reality kit you can buy today, but it has one problem. The Note 4 that sits inside of it, acting as its brains, needs a fan blowing on it continuously to avoid overheating. We have some ideas about how some recent reports might all tie into this.