At GDC 2025, Qualcomm Aims to Supply the Android Handheld Gaming Boom

Qualcomm's new trio of chips are developed for handheld gaming machines, right on time to catch the wave as those devices rise in popularity. The first handhelds using Qualcomm's new silicon, which the company showed off at GDC 2025, will come out later this month. Qualcomm released the first of its handheld-intended chips, the Snapdragon G3X, for premium handhelds back in 2021, and has released new versions in the years following. Though gaming on phones is still popular, the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck proved the capability of high-end devices for playing on the go, paving the way for similar handhelds to grow into a more mainstream niche, from smaller devices like the Analogue Pocket to premium platforms like the Lenovo Legion Go S. Qualcomm's three new chips fit different tiers of gaming devices: the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 for top-end handhelds, the G2 Gen 2 for standard handhelds and the G1 Gen 2 for devices that mostly stream games. Like their predecessors, these chips are buil ... Read full article.