TECH NEWS – Qualcomm is reportedly in talks with Nintendo and Sony to develop portable gaming devices.

Portable gaming consoles are slowly making their way into the market. The first device to really make a notable mark in the industry was the Nintendo Switch. Steam Deck followed this. Qualcomm is also reportedly in talks with various giants. Assuming these talks go in the right direction, a Snapdragon-branded handheld console could soon be on the market.

Qualcomm originally planned an Android-based gaming console with Switch-like detachable controllers.

Talks appear to be in the earliest stages. According to a tweet from Revegnus, Qualcomm SVP Alex Katouzian is apparently in talks with Nintendo and Sony to develop hardware that could be similar to the competition. It is not yet clear how this potential partnership will play out. On the one hand, we see Qualcomm as needing some help from Nintendo with the design and functionality of a handheld game console.

As for Sony, Qualcomm could partner with the Japanese company to develop and launch exclusive mobile games optimised for the Snapdragon platform. As for hardware, where Sony and Nintendo will source chips from other manufacturers. Qualcomm has years of experience in this category. It develops and produces its own solutions.

The Adreno 740 for Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is easily the fastest Android smartphone GPU at the moment, battling it out with Apple’s A16 Bionic.

In a portable gaming handheld, however, there will be more room for heat dissipation. That means Qualcomm may not just add another smartphone SoC to the chassis. We expect that whatever silicon they will use will be developed from the ground up. As it happens, the company is expected to launch Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 with the custom Oryon cores next year. This would be made possible thanks to the acquisition of Nuvia. The chip will again be found in high-end smartphones.

Fortunately, Qualcomm is reportedly working on Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 as well. The latter is already a chipset with a 12-core configuration that will be found in notebooks. Something similar will be found in this gaming console. Running Android right out of the box. The San Diego-based company has been rumoured to work on a Nintendo Switch-like portable gaming console with detachable controllers. But, as you can guess, that product never materialised. The latest rumour is that Qualcomm is willing to collaborate. If that means bringing a device to market.

Source: Twitter

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According to Alex Katouzian, Senior Vice President at Qualcomm, Qualcomm has recently been in discussions with Nintendo and Sony SIE regarding the future development of portable gaming devices.

Of course, it's unclear if this will actually lead to a partnership

— Revegnus (@Tech_Reve) May 31, 2023