Qualcomm's partnership with Microsoft led to the development of the Windows on ARM project, which then brought us Snapdragon 835-powered Windows laptops from OEMs like HP and Asus. Qualcomm is now planning to consolidate its position in the PC ecosystem by launching the Snapdragon 850, a new processor exclusively for ARM-based Windows 10 laptops that will serve as the upgraded version of the Snapdragon 845 mobile SoC.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 chip is exclusive to Windows 10
According to a report from WinFuture, Qualcomm aims to create a parallel platform for its high-end mobile processors that will be optimized for ARM machines. As for the Snapdragon 850, it's not a new processor but just an upgraded version of the Snapdragon 845 SoC, which is faster and has been developed for ultraportable Windows 10 laptops and tablets that may arrive later this year.
The Snapdragon 850 has already been spotted on Geekbench's database under a different name, revealing that the chip will run at a clock speed of around 3GHz, much faster than the Snapdragon 845 due to the better thermal architecture in PCs.
A Lenovo device codenamed 'Europa' (also called 'ELZE1' internally) has also been spotted on Geekbench running the same Snapdragon chip on a Windows 10 device. WinFuture's report adds that HP and Asus are also testing new Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 devices codenamed "Chimera 2" and "Thanos," respectively, which may well be powered by the Snapdragon 850.
