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Sony has told UK customers it will not deliver the Android 17 upgrade it had promised for the Xperia 10 VI when the midrange phone launched over two years ago. The company cited a technical assessment that found the device's storage configuration couldn't support an adequate Android 17 experience. Sony says it will still provide security updates through June 2028 and that other Xperia models' update plans are unaffected.
On the launch day of its Googlebook laptops, Google told Android Authority that while all Play Store apps are available on every device, a small number of complex apps or games may not perform smoothly on Intel-based models. The company said this is because many Android apps were built for Arm chips, and it is working with developers, Intel and Qualcomm to improve compatibility. Three of the five launch Googlebooks—from Acer, Asus and Lenovo—use Intel chips, while Dell and HP models use Qualcomm's Arm-based Snapdragon processors.
Microsoft launched its updated Surface Laptop and Surface Pro at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit, powered by Snapdragon X2 Plus chips, without an AMD option. Surface CVP Brett Ostrum told Windows Central the company's limited device portfolio forces selective processor choices, while insisting Microsoft still values its AMD partnership.
Microsoft's newly announced Surface Pro (2nd Edition) and Surface Laptop (2nd Edition) meet all technical specs for the Copilot+ PC label but aren't marketed under that name, according to Surface VP Brett Ostrum. Both machines use Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus chips with an 80 TOPS NPU, well above the 40 TOPS threshold Microsoft originally set for the category. Microsoft's Copilot+ PC marketing page has also been quietly replaced with one for 'performance PCs.'
Microsoft and Qualcomm confirmed at the Snapdragon 2026 Summit that they will no longer market new Surface and Snapdragon-powered PCs as 'Copilot+' devices, even though the underlying AI features remain unchanged. Surface VP Brett Ostrum and Qualcomm's Kedar Kondap both told Windows Central the companies still emphasize AI capabilities, just without the Copilot+ label that debuted with Arm-based Windows PCs in 2024.
Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, its first audio chip with micro-power Wi-Fi 6E built directly into the silicon, allowing earbuds to connect to home networks without a separate Wi-Fi chip. The company says the chip is 30 percent smaller, uses up to 40 percent less power, and doubles AI processing versus its predecessor. Qualcomm has named HP, Bose, and Cleer as partners, including camera-equipped earbuds with Cleer.
PrismML, an AI lab founded by Caltech researchers and advised by UC Berkeley's Ion Stoica, unveiled a version of its 1-bit Bonsai language model built for Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 platform, shown at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit. The 2-billion-parameter model is tuned to handle vision and language tasks locally on smart glasses, letting wearers query what they see in real time. No specific glasses using the model have been announced yet.
At its Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Qualcomm announced new processors for smartphones, laptops and wearables, including the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 flagship mobile chips. Alongside expected CPU and GPU gains, the chips feature an upgraded Hexagon NPU, a redesigned Sensing Hub and a new Element Accelerator built specifically to speed up agentic AI tasks.
Qualcomm introduced two new mobile processors, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, at its 2026 Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. CEO Cristiano Amon and product marketing manager Charlie Beeman described the Extreme variant as the company's most advanced chip yet, built to handle heavier on-device AI workloads than previous generations.
Motorola showed off the Signature 27 at the Snapdragon Summit, marking the debut device for Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset. The phone features a 50MP Sony LYTIA 910 main sensor and a 200MP periscope telephoto camera, plus upgraded cooling and Bang & Olufsen tuned audio. Motorola says it will offer seven years of OS and security updates, with a global launch expected in 2026.
Motorola has introduced a new device called the Signature 27, built around Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor. The chip choice signals a premium positioning for the handset, though full specs and pricing were not detailed.
Qualcomm announced its next flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, built on a 2nm process with an eight-core Oryon CPU, a 35% faster Adreno GPU, and an NPU that's 14% faster with 20% better performance-per-watt. The chip supports 8K video at 30fps, up to 320-megapixel photo capture, and connectivity including Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth 6 and a new 5G modem, with an unspecified Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 variant offering additional features on the same architecture.