Qualcomm chip aims to create new category of handheld gaming devices

A Qualcomm signal is pictured on the Cellular World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Track

Dec 1 (Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday launched a brand new chip designed for gaming-specific handheld gadgets providing 5G connectivity, a possible new cell platform for video avid gamers providing extra flexibility to play streaming video games on the go.

The San Diego-based agency stated it has partnered with gaming {hardware} firm Razer Inc to create an preliminary check gadget for recreation makers.

Qualcomm is the world’s largest provider of chips for smartphones, which have turn out to be a key platform for video video games, which in flip are one of many largest income turbines in cell app shops.

With its “G3x Gen 1” chip introduced on Wednesday, Qualcomm envisions handheld gadgets which have a contact display just like a smartphone, but additionally bodily controls like a gaming console controller and for much longer battery life whereas taking part in graphics-intensive video games.

The preferred related gadget on right this moment’s market is the Nintendo Co Ltd Swap, however that gadget doesn’t function mobile knowledge connectivity, as an alternative counting on a WiFi connection.

Qualcomm powered gadgets would have 5G connectivity to stream video games straight from cloud gaming suppliers like Microsoft Corp when WiFi is not obtainable. The gadgets would even have greater batteries to make the most of Qualcomm’s graphics processing capabilities, which frequently aren’t totally exploited on telephones as a result of it will damage battery life.

“The massive factor in regards to the cellphone is it is at all times going to slot in your pocket. There are a number of compromises that go right into a cellphone for the use instances that aren’t gaming,” Micah Knapp, senior director of product administration at Qualcomm, instructed Reuters in an interview. “So what occurs when you construct a tool that is only for gaming?”

Qualcomm stated it has partnered with Razer, a maker of gaming PCs and laptops, to create an preliminary “developer equipment” that recreation makers can use to start out writing software program. Qualcomm didn’t give a timeframe for when industrial gadgets for shoppers may seem.

Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; modifying by Richard Pullin

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