Qualcomm cancels Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows on Arm

Qualcomm had plans to ship a Snapdragon mini-PC earlier this year, powered by Windows on Arm. The dev kit missed its planned release date in June and now, Qualcomm has opted to cancel it entirely. 

As part of the announcement, Qualcomm stated that the Snapdragon mini-PC had “not met” the company's “usual standards of excellence”. As spotted by The Verge, some developers had got their hands on one of these systems before the cancellation, so at least a few had shipped. The consensus is that the hardware performs similarly to the Apple M3 Pro, but it has restrictions, such as a lack of Linux support.

Qualcomm did not directly confirm the shortcomings of the Dev Kit. Developer and YouTuber, Jeff Geerling, has tested an early version of the kit, and has published a teardown if you are interested in getting a closer look at what could have been.

The Snapdragon mini-PC was intended to be used as a tool for developers to port their apps to Windows on Arm. This in turn would help out the growing market of Snapdragon X powered CoPilot+ laptops. It is unclear if Qualcomm is now working on an alternative device to suit this cause.

KitGuru Says: This was a Dev Kit ultimately and not intended for the mass market. That does make the cancellation unique in a way. Perhaps an alternative will eventually be made but for now, nothing has been announced. 

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