What Is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850?

We haven't even seen the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 phone yet. That's probably going to be the Samsung Galaxy S9, being announced at Mobile World Congress later this month. But I'm already hearing about yet another 2018 chipset coming from Qualcomm: the Snapdragon 850.

All I've heard about the Snapdragon 850 is that it's probably coming this year, not next year, and that it'll probably appear first in Qualcomm's Windows always-connected PCs.

So what is the Snapdragon 850? Qualcomm has not been bumping its processor numbers by five recently. The Snapdragon 820 was followed by the 835, which was followed by the 845. Smaller increments tell a tale of smaller improvements: the 821 is a slight improvement on the 820, and the 650 was followed by the 652 and the 653.

I'm going to make a bold guess and say that the "50" in "850" has to do with Qualcomm's X50 modem, the first consumer 5G modem. Wireless carriers have been speeding up their 5G timelines, with AT&T recently saying it will launch mobile 5G by the end of this year. Because no 5G phones will be available yet, AT&T's system will launch with a "puck," or mobile 5G hotspot.

But what if the "Snapdragon 850" is a Snapdragon 845 with an X50 modem added on? Qualcomm may not be able to fit the 845 plus the X50 modem into a smartphone-sized package yet, but there's a lot more room to play in PCs and tablets. So the 850 could enable laptops around the end of this year to connect to the first 5G networks; it would be followed in early to mid-2019 by the 855, which would be the first 5G smartphone chipset.

I'm way out on a limb here with speculation. But I think Qualcomm still wants to get a jump on Intel, whose XMM8060 5G modem will be ready in mid-2019. Relying on the typical mid-year Snapdragon cycle could put Qualcomm too close to Intel's launch, but soldering an X50 to an 845 and calling it an 850, for Christmas, would keep Qualcomm in the lead.

Yes, I know it's more than just soldering. Creative license. But as I said, all I know is that it's called the Snapdragon 850, and it's coming. What do you think it is?

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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