Qualcomm poised to muscle in on AMD’s territory with powerful gaming handheld processors

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon G Series of gaming processors
They’re primarily market for mobile and cloud gaming
The most powerful of the lineup is capable of ray tracing and 1440p at 144Hz

Qualcomm has announced its new lineup of Snapdragon G series processors for the handheld market.

Announced in an official blog post, the Snapdragon G Series is made up of three different platforms: the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, and the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2.

The company claims its latest chips are “designed with gamers in mind” to “deliver sustained graphics performance on handheld, dedicated devices”. It promises “high-fidelity graphics” with “incredible ergonomics” for those wanting their mobile games at their best.

As the naming conventions may elude to, the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 is said to be the most powerful of the lineup, made for the “most demanding cross-platform gaming titles” whereas the Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 is instead primarily marketed for “cloud games across major ecosystems”.

This is backed up by the technical specifications of the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, which feature an eight-core Qualcomm Kyro CPU, Adreno A32 graphics (including ray tracing functionality), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, and support for 1440p at 144Hz.

The Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 is similarly powerful, with the same eight-core Qualcomm Kyro CPU, but it features Adreno 22 graphics instead, with the same connectivity standards and output options.

Things only get more mainstream when analyzing what the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 can do. Despite having the same eight-core processor as the others, six of its total cores are efficiency, with only two dedicated to performance.

Similarly, it has weaker Adreno A12 graphics, and only support for Full HD (1080p) at 120Hz with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. It’s safe to say this could be the chip found in cloud gaming devices that do not require the same level of horsepower.

Some of its partners running the new chips include AyaNeo, OneXSugar, and Retroid Pocket, among others, as the hardware is primarily geared towards Android and cloud gaming performance rather than native rendering. However, given the prowess of the leading chip, that could change depending on who adopts the silicon.

A step forward for mobile gaming hardware

Qualcomm has had great success over the past year since its Snapdragon X Elite line, powering some of the best laptops and best ultrabooks, famed for their snappy performance and long battery lives when compared to traditional x86 alternatives. The company now seems in a position to take on some of the biggest processors from rivals, such as AMD’s Z1 and Z2 chips that you’ll find in some of the best gaming handhelds.

We may not see a similar level of compatibility and performance with Windows or SteamOS machines, but for what they are, the Snapdragon G Series could still be a viable alternative. Some handhelds hitting the market have already impressed featuring the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chip, like the AyaNeo Pocket S2, which is said to elevate Android gaming without the usual trappings of getting warm (via PCMag).

Just as Windows on Arm has evolved since it launched and was iterated upon as the big x86 alternative, the Snapdragon G Series could be the thing to push more handheld gamers into the arms of dedicated cloud-based and Android machines if the battery lives, displays, and ergonomics can outmatch what current-generation handheld PCs can do.

Competition is always a good thing as it pushes companies to continue innovating and improving on tech instead of stagnation, something the portable scene has been in danger of for years now. Will the Snapdragon G Series be enough to frighten AMD and Intel? It’s not clear yet, but we’ve seen Qualcomm muscle in on their territory with its laptops, so why couldn’t handhelds be next?