Qualcomm is helping make a faster Nintendo Switch that runs Android

Could the holy grail of mobile gaming really be within reach?

Qualcomm's newly announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is all set to power the next generation of Android flagships, and while that promises to bring some incredible gaming performance to your next phone, smartphones are only one part of how many of us access games on the go. The popularity of dedicated consoles just refuses to wane, and right now everyone's looking to what's coming next after the Nintendo Switch. This week at the Snapdragon Tech Summit Qualcomm is revealing its own effort to dethrone Nintendo's champion, with the introduction of the G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform.

Basically what Qualcomm wants to with the G3x is to give manufacturers a fast lane towards producing their own next-gen consoles. Just like the Snapdragon in your phone, the G3x is built around Qualcomm's Kyro CPU and Adreno GPU cores, supporting blistering 144Hz graphics with HDR fidelity. That's going to give it plenty of processing power for running its own Android titles, but because this is 2021, we're also talking a lot about cloud gaming. To that end, connectivity is a big focus here, with support for Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, as well as sub-6 and mmWave 5G.

Of course, it's easy to just say, “here's a fancy new chip. Maybe you could use it for gaming?” To give the G3x a running start Qualcomm has partnered with Razer to produce the developer kit you see above. While we're not likely to see this exact hardware emerge at retail, it does give us something to look forward to with its 6.65-inch full HD+ OLED screen and suite of remappable buttons, sticks, and triggers.

As you'd expect, there are all sorts of bells and whistles, too, like a selfie cam intended for gamers who are looking to stream straight from their console, 4K-out for connecting to big screens, and 4-way speakers with Snapdragon Sound.

Honestly, the idea behind this effort sounds pretty solid: combine the best parts of Android gaming, cloud gaming, and dedicated gaming consoles. In theory there's a ton to like there, but success is going to require not just a great piece of hardware built around the G3x, but also the kind of software and service partnerships that are going to be necessary to ensure gamers get access to all the content they crave. The jury's still out on how all that might come together, but there definitely seems to be cause for some cautious optimism.

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