Microsoft and Qualcomm last year announced that Windows 10 will be coming to next-generation of Snapdragon Mobile processors. At the Computex 2017 earlier this year Qualcomm announced that ASUS, HP and Lenovo will be the first OEMs to build PCs powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC Platform with X16 LTE modem. Today at its second annual Snapdragon Technology Summit, Qualcomm in partnership with Microsoft introduced the Always Connected PCs with 4G LTE which would bring ARM support to Windows 10, but with x86 emulation, allowing all existing applications to work as well.
The first Always Connected PCs will be 2-in-1 convertible ASUS NovaGo that is expected to be available early next year and the detachable HP ENVY x2 Windows on Snapdragon Mobile PC. Both these promise always connected experience with the NovaGo supporting Gigabit LTE speed.
The NovaGo promises battery life of up to 30 days of standby and 22 hours of active use and the HP ENVY x2 promises up to 20 hours of local video playback, 700 hours of connected standby time and 0 to 90% of charging in just 90 minutes with HP’s fast charging technology.
The Snapdragon 835 PC board is much smaller compared to a similar 14nm Intel board that can save up to 30% space offering a smaller, thinner, and lighter fanless PC designs with more battery capacity for all-day battery life.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC Platform has same specifications as the Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform including eight Kryo 280 CPUs, comes with integrated Wi-Fi + WCN3990 companion chip for 2×2 802.11ac with Mu-MIMO , Integrated X16 LTE modem with Cat 16/13 speeds of up to 1 Gbps down/150 Mbps, WCN3990 chip for Bluetooth 5 and has support for 6 satellite systems: GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS.
These PCs have built-in eSIM or a slot for Nano SIM depending on the region to offer on-the-go LTE connectivity. These run full Windows 10 and the universal Windows apps will be available compiled for ARM directly, but x86 apps will run in emulation.