Qualcomm’s new chip could bring 5G to phones costing less than $100

Qualcomm’s latest chip should make 5G connectivity the standard for the cheapest phones on the market, while also bringing fast 40-watt wired charging and gaming to phones under $100.

The Snapdragon 4S Gen 2 platform, announced on Tuesday, is aimed at these low-end phones, which Qualcomm says will launch later this year, starting with a device from Xiaomi.

“With this new platform, gigabit 5G smartphones are now available for less than $99,” said Carina Affinito, senior product marketing manager at Qualcomm, in a statement ahead of the briefing.

Like other S chips Qualcomm offers, the Snapdragon 4S Gen 2 is aimed at phones that sit slightly below last year’s. Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processorThere’s also no guarantee that companies making phones in the US will use this particular processor, though Qualcomm’s previous Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor falls roughly into the same category and powers Motorola phones. $200 Moto G 5GSince Qualcomm doesn’t release new versions of its less powerful chips every year, the 4S Gen 2 gives phone makers another option with newer features for lower-end devices.

Meanwhile, Samsung and TCL often use rival MediaTek’s processors in their 5G-capable phones that cost less than $200, such as the $200 Galaxy A15 5GTCL’s 50-series 5G phones are even cheaper, starting at $100 for the TCL 50 XE 5G up to $160 for the likes of the TCL 50 XL 5G, but are often locked to one US carrier if they offer those lower prices.

Still, there will still be plenty of other phones coming out in 2024 that cost $150 or less that don’t have 5G connectivity. It’s possible that the availability of chipsets like the 4S Gen 2 aimed at those cheaper phones will make the capability ubiquitous, giving phone owners on even the smallest budgets access to the blazing speeds and high bandwidth of 5G networks.

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