Qualcomm puts on-device AI at the heart of its next-gen platforms
Generative AI has been the buzzword in 2023. From no-code development tools to writing solutions, generative fill in Photoshop and even fake Drake hits, it has truly captured our imagination this year. AI has long been improving the user experience on our phones. Whether it be the digital assistants or the camera features that make our photos and videos look brighter, sharper and more vibrant. Advancing on-device AI is crucial for enhancing the user experience on next-generation devices.
Qualcomm has revamped its platforms around the idea of providing best-in-class on-device AI functionality. Both new platforms, the
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for mobile devices and the Snapdragon X Elite for Windows PCs will enable cutting-edge generative AI features. Qualcomm's vision is to deliver enhanced on-device AI everywhere, including on platforms like Auto, IoT and extended reality (XR).
A glimpse of new generative AI features made possible by Qualcomm
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 boasts the most powerful NPU yet for mobile devices, capable of running over 10 billion parameters on smartphones. The
Snapdragon X Elite raises the bar on AI performance for PCs with its capability to run 13 billion+ parameters, an impressive 4.5x improvement in AI performance compared to competitors.

With support for running various AI models such as Stable Diffusion and Meta's Llama 2, on-device AI on Qualcomm's latest platforms will enable users to accomplish tasks such as generating images in less than a second on smartphones and experience blazing fast on-device AI assistants at 30 tokens per second on PCs.
Qualcomm has provided a glimpse of the possibilities that these new AI features will create at the
Snapdragon Summit 2023 in Hawaii. Stable Diffusion, for example, can take text input from users and use artificial intelligence to general vibrant images relevant to the input. Voice-activated photo and video editing with generative AI also becomes possible.

On-device AI on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered phones can run LLM models at 20 tokens per second, meaning that chat assistants can respond more quickly and accurately. When integrated with plugins like Skyscanner, they'll be able to help users achieve tasks such as searching for flights with just voice commands. On-device personalization gets a boost with the improved Qualcomm Sensing Hub which relies on AI to better understand users' preferences.

Many of Qualcomm's partners that will utilize its next-generation platforms in their mobile devices and PCs will enable these experiences on their devices. Given the year that AI has been having, its democratization was inevitable. Qualcomm has made a huge leap in making that possible. All that's left now is to see how manufacturers enable us to make the most of these capabilities.
Snapdragon Seamless helps your Android and Windows devices play nice
Ours is a multi-device reality. The phones may be Android and PCs running Windows. While solutions do exist, devices don't work as seamlessly across these different operating systems as they should. Qualcomm wants to do something about that which is why it has introduced Snapdragon Seamless at the
Snapdragon Summit 2023 in Hawaii today.
Snapdragon Seamless is a cross-platform solution that enables Snapdragon-powered devices across different operating systems, such as Android and Windows, to find each other and work together seamlessly. This should help eliminate some of the envy that Android and Windows users feel against how seamlessly all of Apple's devices work together, but that's only possible because Apple is the only sheriff in town on that ecosystem.
This could be Android's best shot yet at a seamless user experience that rivals Apple
Qualcomm's idea behind creating Snapdragon Seamless was to improve multi-device experiences across different manufacturers and platforms so that customers have more choice in the devices they want to use. Snapdragon Seamless will make it possible to share mice and keyboards across PCs, smartphones, and tablets, drag and drop files across devices, intelligently switch earbuds based on the priority of the audio source, and further extend the capabilities of smartphones using extended reality (XR).
The company's latest mobile platform, the
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, features Snapdragon Seamless, so this functionality will be available on next year's flagship phones as well. It's also incorporated into the new
Snapdragon X Elite PC platform. Qualcomm is going to extend Seamless to Auto, IoT, and XR platforms in the future as well.
Several companies have already signed on to support Snapdragon Seamless in their new devices. These include the likes of Microsoft, Opposite, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and others. Samsung is missing from this list, likely because of what's already possible with
the Phone Link app on Windows 11. The Korean giant also provides its own Galaxy ecosystem features that work on Windows-powered Galaxy Book notebooks such as
Quick Share, Multi Control, Second Screen, and more.
It remains to be seen if the company decides to expand on this when the
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy is possibly unveiled early next year, since Qualcomm's vision for Snapdragon Seamless extends beyond PC and notebook to other platforms as well.
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/m...-platforms/snapdragon-8-gen-3-mobile-platform