Some of the coolest features you see on flagship or high-end Android devices are made possible with the help of Qualcomm's line of Snapdragon mobile processors. Sure, it starts with the phone makers, but what it all comes down to is that your Android handset would not be able to do those fancy stuff without a Snapdragon chip.
Throughout much of 2014, every high-profile Android release -- from Google's Nexus 6 to Samsung's Galaxy S5, from LG's G3 to Motorola's Moto X (2014 edition) -- have been designed around the power and capabilities of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 and 805 mobile chips.
In 2015 however, you can expect the manufacturers of these devices to unveil new offerings, and it is a good bet that whatever they will be introducing will feature Qualcomm's latest processor, the Snapdragon 810.
Just recently, Qualcomm shared some of the things that the Snapdragon 810 can do for smartphones and tablets. First up is pixel density. Most pixel-dense devices have screens that feature 2560 by 1440 pixels, but there are certain models that already shoot videos at 4K resolutions. By next year, this may already be standard fare. The Snapdragon 810 processor will allow users to output that pixel-dense video recording to a television set without ever lagging, either via wired means or through a wireless adapter that uses WiGig. And by 2015, users could be seeing tablets with 4K display screens too, courtesy of Snapdragon 810's processing prowess.
Also, the Snapdragon 810 will come out as the first 64-bit processor available among Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 series of chips. This is nifty because it is in line with Android 5.0 Lollipop's support for 64-bit runtime. What does this mean for users? More efficiency, especially in launching apps and games (including outputting videogame graphics to TV sets as efficiently as today's game consoles), and in improving fingerprint and even facial scanning.
With regards to security, the Snapdragon 810 processor will come with hardware-level security features. This includes giving users the ability to remotely lock their devices when lost, and then unlock them when found. Furthermore, Qualcomm's newest chip will prevent handsets from being flashed and wiped in case they are stolen.
So how soon we can we expect Snapdragon 810 powered devices to be available in the market? Qualcomm is looking at the first six months of 2015. Rumors are flying that the chip will be featured in the Nexus 6 (for 64-bit support) and Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S6 smartphone, but there may be delays in production, not to mention in the testing phase. Even so, we may be seeing new flagship devices that run on the Snapdragon 810 processor more or less by summertime next year.
