Thanks to the new U.S. executive order that puts pressure on Huawei’s suppliers, the Chinese giant will no longer be able to develop high-end Kirin chipsets. That leaves a massive market open for Qualcomm to capitalize, who now reportedly wants to sell its Snapdragon chipsets to the company and is apparently pushing the Trump administration to allow sales operations to start.
Qualcomm Wants the U.S. Government to Open up Some Restrictions That Will Allow the Sale of Smartphone and 5G Modems to Huawei
With certain restrictions out of the way, The Wall Street Journal reports that Qualcomm will be able to sell Snapdragon chipsets to Huawei, and that also includes 5G modems. According to the report, Qualcomm should be able to seize up to $8 billion in orders from Huawei, making it a very lucrative deal for the San Diego chipset manufacturer. Though Huawei may be able to develop mid-range chipsets, flagship Kirin silicon will no longer be produced.
Though Huawei still has the option to select MediaTek or Samsung, Qualcomm currently leads the market for Android handsets in terms of performance, efficiency, and ubiquity, as the company’s SoCs are used in millions of devices worldwide. Also, the new deal can mean that Qualcomm will be able to work closely with Huawei to develop new and more advanced technologies.
One reason why Huawei might not tap MediaTek for high-end mobile chipsets is that Qualcomm’s offerings are more superior in both performance, efficiency while also offering advanced technologies. This might also mean that Huawei’s smartphones will become pricier as the upcoming Snapdragon 875 package that also includes the Snapdragon X60 modem is rumored to cost $100 more than the Snapdragon 865. 2020 Android flagships were already expensive to begin with and now we have this.
Not that Huawei’s flagships were affordable to begin with, but it’s possible that partnering with Qualcomm might force the Chinese giant to charge customers a much higher price than before. Do you think the U.S. government will ease some restrictions to allow Qualcomm to start selling chipsets to Huawei? Tell us down in the comments.
News Source: The Wall Street Journal
