Update January 4, 2017. Qualcomm (QCOM) announced a new Snapdragon chip (Snapdragon 835) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 3. The chip will take up about 35% less space than last year’s Snapdragon chip in devices such as smartphones and use 25% less power.
The combination should enable Qualcomm to take even more market share among smartphone makers–bad news for Intel (INTC) and ARM Holdings (ARM)–and open up new markets for Qualcomm in devices for the Internet of Things and in the emerging markets for wearable virtual reality and augmented reality displays.
The smaller size will let phone makers increase screen size without increasing the size of their smartphones. The lower power consumption is a major competitive plus since the biggest complaint among smartphone users is short battery life. The lower power consumption of the Snapdragon 835 becomes an even bigger issue as smartphone makers try to move more processing from the cloud and onto individual phones.
The new Snapdragon 835 is expected to show up in phones from Samsung, LG, and China’s Xiaomi in the second half of 2017.
Qualcomm is a member of my Dividend portfolio. The shares are up 31.39% since I added them to this portfolio on May 5, 2016. The shares pay a 3.25% dividend.
