Early this month, Qualcomm announced its first smartphone, the ASUS-made Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders, with a promise that it will be available in August. Ahead of the release date, interested buyers can now pre-order the smartphone.

Priced at $1499, the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders can be pre-ordered on ASUS’ US website. The estimated shipping date is 27th of August which is practically a month away. Pre-orders are not live yet in the UK, Europe, and India.

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders has a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1200 nits. There is no bezel or notch or punch hole for the front-facing camera, instead there is a slim bezel that houses the 24MP selfie camera and other sensors.

Qualcomm’s phone is powered by the Snapdragon 888 processor and packs 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It has a 64MP main camera on the back that drags along with it a 12MP ultrawide angle camera that doubles as a macro camera and an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.

There is a fingerprint scanner on the back as well as a Snapdragon logo that has an LED underneath. The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders has stereo speakers with a smart amplifier. It is also the first phone to come with Snapdragon Sound technology.

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders has a 4000mAh battery and support for 65W fast charging. It will come with a 65W Quick Charge 5 adapter in the US and Europe while India gets a 30W power adapter. Qualcomm also ships the package with a pair of premium TWS earbuds, two charging cables, and a case.

Qualcomm has revealed that it will provide four years of updates for the smartphone but didn’t specify how many years will be for OS upgrades.

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Last week was a very interesting one for OnePlus. The Chinese manufacturer practically was in the news for various reasons ranging from bad to good. However, Qualcomm was able to take away the spotlight when it announced its first smartphone. If you missed out on these important stories, here’s your chance to get brought up to speed.

Nothing will be affordable

Carl Pei’s Nothing pair of earbuds is coming later this month. However, you don’t have to wait till then to know how much the first product from the startup will cost. The founder already revealed the price as well as some of the features of the wireless earbuds which will launch as the Nothing ear (1).

OnePlus tweets about the S Pen

The official OnePlus India Twitter account committed a gaffe last week when it tweeted about Samsung’s Galaxy S Pen. It was a mistake but one that won’t be forgotten quickly.

OPPO phones may feature in-house ISP

Google and Xiaomi are two manufacturers that have launched phones with an in-house image signal processor (ISP). OPPO may soon join the list has a leak revealed the manufacturer is working on its own ISP. This chipset should help future OPPO devices take better pictures since the chipset and camera algorithms can be better tweaked compared to the one that comes with the chipset powering the phone.

OnePlus admits to throttling performance for the sake of battery life

It was discovered that OnePlus was throttling the performance of the OnePlus 9 Pro when using several popular apps including Chrome and Twitter. However, when running benchmark apps, the device ran at full performance according to findings made by Anandtech. This discovery led to the device (and the OnePlus 9) being removed from Geekbench’s database. In OnePlus’s defense, it said it did that to save battery life. You can read their official response.

OnePlus Nord 2 5G gets a launch date, will have a custom MediaTek chipset

The much-awaited OnePlus Nord 2 5G now has a launch date. The phone will arrive in less than two weeks and when it does, it will have a custom MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset with improved AI features. The Dimensity 1200-AI is actually impressive as it does beat the standard version on AI Benchmark.

Qualcomm announces $1500 Snapdragon-branded smartphone

One of the top stories last week was the launch of the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders, a device made by ASUS for Qualcomm and with a Snapdragon logo. The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders or Snapdragon Insiders Phone costs a pretty penny, though Qualcomm is offering a lot too including top specs such as 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, bundled premium earbuds (select markets), and up to 4 years of software support.

Huawei has a new tablet with a Snapdragon processor

The MatePad family grew larger with the launch of the MatePad 11, a Snapdragon 865-powered tablet. It boasts a 120Hz refresh rate, up to 256GB of expandable storage, quad speakers, and can be converted into a productivity device with an optional keyboard and pressure-sensitive stylus.

A new Nintendo Switch

Nintendo announced yet another Switch console – the second this year if you count the new Switch Lite colorway. The Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) as it is officially called brings a new display that is not only bigger but OLED. It also has a redesigned dock, more storage, and of course, costs more.

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The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will be sold in a number of key markets including China and India. Ahead of its availability in August, the device has now been listed on the ASUS online store for India and China along with their respective prices.

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders (or Snapdragon Insiders Phone) sold in India and China will have the same specifications as the models sold in other regions, so buyers will also get 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

According to the listings, the phone will sell for ₹111,990 in India which converts to about $1500, the same price the device will go for in the U.S. For those in China, the price tag is ￥9,999 (~$1543). While it is interesting to see that those in India won’t be paying more, the fact is that they will be getting less than the other regions.

For starters, the phone will ship with a slower 30W charger (Qualcomm’s site says it is a 35W charger) compared to the Quick Charge 5 65W charger other regions will be getting. Also, the ASUS store listing doesn’t mention the pair of premium earbuds among the items in the box which means it won’t be included.

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The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders has a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the Snapdragon 888 processor and packs a 4000mAh battery capacity that can charge at up to 65W. The phone has a 64MP + 13MP + 8MP triple camera setup on the rear and a 24MP camera in front. It also has stereo speakers, Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and dual SIM support. When it starts shipping, it will run a stock version of Android 11 out of the box.

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• Qualcomm will provide 4 years of (security) updates for the Snapdragon Insiders Phone
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• Xiaomi to launch a 67W charger in India on July 12

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The Snapdragon Insiders Phone is the Android device of the week. There is so much to unpack from the announcement which should explain why it is getting a lot of attention. If you wanted to know about its software support, we asked Qualcomm and we’ve gotten a response.

According to the official Snapdragon Twitter account, Qualcomm will provide “4- years of regular security updates for Android software” for the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders/Snapdragon Insiders Phone.

Thanks for the question. At launch, the smartphone will run stock Android 11 and Qualcomm provides 4-years of regular security updates for Android software.

— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) July 8, 2021

The answer is a blanket statement that doesn’t say how many OS upgrades they will provide. However, providing 4 years of security updates is impressive and matches OnePlus’s new maintenance schedule for its flagship phones. It is also double the duration ASUS will provide for its own flagships, the Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip.

Qualcomm also revealed that the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will run stock Android 11 out of the box, unlike ASUS’s own phones that run Zen UI.

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The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders a.k.a. Snapdragon Insiders Phone was announced today, and according to Qualcomm, the hardware is designed by ASUS. It turns out ASUS did or will do more than design the phone.

It has been revealed that ASUS will also handle the manufacturing of the device as well as be in charge of sales and software (support). It should also handle warranty and repairs. The info was revealed by Mishaal Rahman of XDA Developers.

We are particularly curious about software support and we have contacted Qualcomm to inquire about the duration of updates. The phone runs Android 11 out of the box and we expect it to get at least two OS upgrades. For a phone priced at $1499, we expect three OS upgrades.

Qualcomm will sell the phone in the U.S., China, U.K., Germany, and India. It also said in its press release that it will be made available in other regions.

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• The Snapdragon Insiders Phone is coming to India but with a caveat
• Qualcomm and MediaTek gains market share in Q1 2021 at the expense of Huawei HiSilicon

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