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Qualcomm (QCOM) Unveils Upgraded Flagship 5G Mobile Platform

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Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM - Free Report) recently unveiled Snapdragon 888 Plus — an upgraded version of its flagship 5G Snapdragon mobile platform. The new SoC (System-on-Chip) is likely to offer a premium entertainment, connectivity and gaming experience with enhanced features, stirring the interest of several leading handset manufacturers across the globe.

Leveraging AI capabilities, Snapdragon 888 Plus helps to run multiple networks simultaneously for an immersive entertainment experience with noise cancellation features to suppress unwanted sound. It boasts a CPU clock speed of up to 3 GHz with a 6th-generation AI engine performance standard of up to 32 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), which is reportedly a 20% improvement from its predecessor. It has a Snapdragon X60 5G modem that enables peak download speed of 7.5 Gbps and FastConnect 6900 that enables the latest Wi-Fi standards for faster download.  

The SoC supports the full suite of Snapdragon Elite Gaming facets for gaming buffs. These include Variable Rate Shading for faster graphics performance, Game Quick Touch for faster display responsiveness and upgradable drivers that deliver the latest graphics and performance improvements in real time. The chipset also offers Quick Charge 5 support that supposedly fully charges a phone in less than 15 minutes. In addition, it is able to capture three 28-megapixel photos or three 4K HDR videos at once with auto-focus, auto-exposure and a new low-light architecture that reportedly help take brighter photos, even in near-darkness.

With a plethora of unique features in its category, commercial handset makers like ASUS, Honor, Motorola, vivo, and Xiaomi have expressed their desire to incorporate Snapdragon 888 Plus in their upcoming smartphones by the second half of the year.

Markedly, Qualcomm is reportedly the only chipset vendor with 5G system level solutions spanning both sub-6 and millimeter wave bands and one of the largest RF (radio frequency) front end suppliers with design wins across all premium-tier smartphone customers. It is one of the largest manufacturers of wireless chipset based on baseband technology. The company is focusing to retain its leadership in 5G, chipset market and mobile connectivity with several technological achievements and innovative product launches. The company is likely to help users experience seamless transition to superfast 5G networks, delivering low-power resilient multi-gigabit connectivity with unprecedented range and best-in-class security. This is likely to offer the flexibility and scalability needed for broad and fast 5G adoption through accelerated commercialization by OEMs.

For 2021, 5G handsets are expected to witness 150% year-over-year growth at the midpoint to about 450-550 units. With more than 700 5G design announced or in the development phase, the company is well positioned to benefit from solid 5G traction with greater visibility to meet its long-term revenue targets.

The stock has gained 51% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 46.7%.
 

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We remain impressed with the inherent growth potential of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Aviat Networks, Inc. (AVNW - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and ATN International, Inc. (ATNI - Free Report) and Nokia Corporation (NOK - Free Report) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Aviat delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 57.3%, on average.

ATN International delivered an earnings surprise of 424.2%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

Nokia delivered an earnings surprise of 215.2%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

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