LAS VEGAS -- Qualcomm announced at CES Tuesday that the first smartphone to pack its flagship Snapdragon 820 processor will be the Letv Le Max Pro.
Wait, who? If you’ve heard of Letv (pronounced L-E-T-V) at all, you know it’s a large Chinese Internet video company, but not traditionally a smartphone maker. That changed recently when it debuted a line of smartphones under the “Le” brand.
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With the Snapdragon 820, Letv is clearly hoping to make some noise in the market with a flagship-level phone. Besides the top-of-the-line Qualcomm chip, the Le Max Pro will also be the first device with Qualcomm’s much-hyped Sense ID fingerprint sensor. Sense ID uses ultrasound to capture a much more accurate picture of your fingertip – even when it’s wet.
The Le Max Pro will also be able to support the next standard in Wi-Fi -- that would be 802.11ad -- which promises gigabit-level connection speeds. That will likely remain a dormant feature until 802.11ad routers get a little more common.
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mellonkopf said he expected more mainstream smartphone makers to get the Snapdragon 820 in the coming months.
Qualcomm also announced an automotive-specific version of its 820 chip, the 820A. The powerful chip would upgrade the connected-vehicle experience by supporting advanced graphics in infotainment systems and even incorporating Qualcomm's deep-learning algorithms. That could lead to smarter car sensors that can actually recognize objects and even people.
The car-focused chip Qualcomm announced a year ago, the Snapdragon 602A, will make its way into 2017 Audi cars, the company said. It will be in A5 models by the end of the year, Audi Executive Vice President Ricky Hudi said, and in A4 cars in 2017. Getting into Audio cars is a victory for Qualcomm, since the carmaker partnered with its chip rival Nvidia in the past on connected cars.