Qualcomm has announced a new family member in its low-mid mobile segment with its latest Snapdragon 410. It offers affordable 4G LTE connectivity on devices below US$150 mark and it is also their first ever 64-bit processor. Surprisingly even its latest Snapdragon 805, designed for Ultra HD recording and output is still on 32-bit. The new Snapdragon 410 will be first sampled by manufacturers in early 2014 and it is likely to roll out in smart phones commercially by second half of 2014.
Mid-tier smart phones are the volume movers for smart phone manufacturers and such development will definitely drive adoption of 4G connectivity. With 4G LTE networks being deployed worldwide, the adoption depends on the choice of smart phones available. What used to be exclusive to high-end devices, we are getting more choices with affordable price tags.
Most recently we’ve seen affordable 4G LTE smart phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 that’s priced at RM799 and the Lumia 625 that’s going for less than RM900 these days. By the time 4G becomes a default smart phone feature, hopefully our local telcos would have expanded their coverage extensively by then.
