The Six Five team examines Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Insiders Smartphone.
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Transcript:
Patrick Moorhead: But Daniel, let’s move to the next topic, and that is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Insider phone. Qualcomm took a little bit of heat about bringing this phone out. I feel like people were confused, so I’m going to try to clarify here.
So first off, Qualcomm has a one-to-one consumer marketing program called Qualcomm Insiders. And sometimes we don’t fully understand because we’re in the US and people have iPhone on the brain. But Android is at least 75% of the global smartphone market, and that’s not just because they’re cheaper. But in other countries other than the US appreciate more what brands like Samsung, Oppo and folks like that can bring to the table.
And with that said, Qualcomm is getting out there and extending a program, and insiders get inside news before other people get it and insights. And I’ve got to tell you, I can tell you from having a marketing inside of China, they love that stuff. And you’ll get crowds of tens of thousands of people out there lining up for stuff just because it’s a Snapdragon. And we can’t fully grok that here in the US. I understand that.
And the other part of it is bringing out special deals and special products. So Qualcomm partnered with Asus on a phone which basically doesn’t actually have a name to it, but I think the first thing is people did is they vaulted the price, which is $1,500. Now what this phone brings is the latest and greatest technology from Qualcomm plus the best audio solution in the market and these killer headphones to connect to it. So it has the best in connectivity. It has nearly the best in computer. It has the latest in Quick Charge, with Quick Charge 5.0.
The only feature that I wish it would have had would have been the under-display fingerprint reader, but quite frankly, it didn’t match up with the display, I am told, and I totally understand. But let me step back here. They took a lot of heat because of the specs. It doesn’t have the plus processor in there, and there were a couple other nits out there. I think that’s completely missing the point. This is for insiders and not the general public.
So I wrote a pretty feisty, I would call it a response piece, out there on Forbes, but really tried to set the record straight. So if you’re interested, check that out, but good luck. And I appreciate Qualcomm trying to go direct with some of its customers. And no, it’s not getting into the smartphone business folks. Don’t be confused. It needs its OEMs and ODMs for this. This is just part of some kudos and special insider opportunities.
Daniel Newman: Yeah. The long and short is simple here, Pat. Snapdragon is an immensely flexible and leading capability platform, and vendors and OEMs and ODMs do make selections on the feature specs that they put into devices. Qualcomm, in the spirit of partnership, probably guides but does not dictate, nor should they. That would be problematic. But this is an opportunity for the company to try to work to show the market what could be done if you took advantage of all the features, all the spec, all the capabilities of our most advanced chip sets.
So it’s an interesting concept, Pat, and since Qualcomm really has very little consumer recognition, it’s a chance for people to reach out that are influential at that consumer level to really talk about the fact that, going back to your T-Mobile commentary, if Qualcomm, when incorporated into the OEM and ODM devices that we know, creates a device that we like to use better. It’s actually quite simple. The program will need to continue to evolve. This may not be the perfect application of it, but it’s a starting point, and I expect to see more in the future.
Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
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