Qualcomm Wins Audi as Customer for Chip in 2017 Model Cars

Not long after Qualcomm confirmed that the Letv Le Max Pro would be the world’s first Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone, we now have more details about the device, plus official images of it. While the Le Max Pro is indeed the very first handset to use Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 820 processor (see technical details here), there is no word on exactly when it’s going to be released.

Qualcomm has been talking up the Snapdragon 820 as the chip for next-generation smartphones for most of 2015-but that hasn’t stopped the company from announcing a derivative aimed at cars.

United States chipmaker Qualcomm is known for its processors that power mobile phones.

With the Snapdragon 820, Letv is clearly hoping to make some noise in the market with a flagship-level phone.

When asked when phones shipping to the United States would in fact see the Qualcomm 820 inside them, Mollenkopf answered somewhat cryptically, “Soon”. Its portfolio for the market includes technology for telematics and connectivity, high definition graphics and multimedia for in-vehicle infotainment systems, machine intelligence and sensor fusion for driver assistance systems, GNSS location technologies, V2X (Vehicle to Vehicle/Infrastructure/Pedestrian) communications, and wireless charging for electric vehicles. And Letv is the first of those to get to a product.

The rest of the conference was dedicated to using the Snapdragon 820 as a means of mass connectivity: not only can the processor be used to keep all of a household’s devices connected to one another, but it’s entirely possible for entire cities and infrastructures to move to Qualcomm’s latest chipset. The LeTV Max Pro’s fingerprint reader is located on the back of the device. Qualcomm specifically mentions upgrading LTE connectivity over the lifetime of the auto to keep up with the capabilities of cellular networks.

Qualcomm also unveiled a new Bluetooth Smart 4.2 SoC family.

Qualcomm says the automotive-grade 820A family will begin sampling in the first quarter of this year and that it will be giving demos and showing off concept vehicles based on the chip in its Qualcomm Automotive CES booth.