Rumors are widespread that Asus and Qualcomm are teaming up to work on a gaming phone they will launch before the year ends.
Silicon giant Qualcomm appears set to join the gaming phone market as rumors indicate the company is seeking a partnership with Asus to develop the device. There are also whispered talks that Qualcomm plans to launch the gaming phones soon, perhaps as early as the end of this year.
Digitimes, a Taiwanese tech news outlet citing industry sources, said that Qualcomm is exploring the possibility of joining forces with Asus to develop and release to the market Qualcomm-branded gaming phones. The news outlet also stated that gaming phones could launch before the year ends. At present, the gaming phone market is populated by companies like Asus, Nubia, Black Shark, and Iqoo, which all launched their own versions recently.
According to Digitimes, the task of Asus in the said partnership is to design and develop the hardware, while Qualcomm is in charge of "industry design," as well as "software integration optimizing its Snapdragon 875 platform." Traditionally, Qualcomm releases its new silicon chips in December, with widespread availability of devices starting the first quarter of the following year. Based on these past instances, a new Snapdragon 875-powered gaming phone from the duo may be available early next year even if its launch takes place in December of 2020.
Digitimes, citing its sources, also said that the partnership may jointly purchase the components required for both gaming phones of Qualcomm and the Asus ROG Phone gaming phones. These include camera modules, screens, batteries, memory, and cooling solutions.
If the partnership setup information is correct, then Qualcomm gaming phones may share some hardware similarities with present or future Asus ROG Phone gaming phones. The joint purchasing setup would also result in Asus able to take advantage of the economies of scale to lower its production costs and gain greater bargaining control for its own phones.
Digitimes added that Qualcomm and Asus are looking at producing approximately one million phones each year with half of that, or around 500,000 units, devoted to Qualcomm gaming phones and the rest is under the ROG Phone product line. There are no details as to the specs or the general configuration of the gaming phones that Qualcomm and Asus will develop, though you only need to take one look at Asus' ROG Phone lineup and other gaming phones to get an idea of what to expect. Among the common features usually found on present-day gaming, phones include advanced cooling solutions, high refresh rate screens, top-end silicon chips, shoulder triggers or some extra buttons, and big batteries.