AMD and Qualcomm Announce Partnership to Power Always Connected PCs

AMD and Qualcomm announced today that they would be working together to power always connected PCs. This could see laptops featuring AMD’s Ryzen Mobile processors shipping with Snapdragon LTE modems.

When Ryzen Mobile was revealed in October, AMD claimed playable framerates in an ultrathin notebook form factor. Users can expect to run League of Legends, DOTA 2 and CS:GO at 1920x1080, and Overwatch and Quake Champions at 1280x720, and still get between 43fps and 66fps depending on the quality settings used. Moreover, 4K streaming is supported by Amazon, Vudu and Netflix. HDR and Freesync 2 are supported on both internal and external displays.

What this means is, multiplayer gaming on the go could soon become a reality for many, allowing you to play online games like Overwatch or Counter-Strike on your laptop when you’re on the road over cellular data thanks to Qualcomm's modems.

“Both AMD and Qualcomm have shown a consistent commitment to delivering products that redefine next-generation mobile user experiences,” said Kevin Lensing, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Client Computing, AMD. “OEMs around the world will now be able to combine the recently announced AMD Ryzen mobile processors with Qualcomm Technologies’ leading wireless solutions via their Snapdragon LTE modem family to achieve new levels of performance, connectivity and capability for ultrathin notebook PCs.”

“Qualcomm Technologies believes the always connected PC is the future of personal computing, and we are working with AMD to bring each company’s expertise to bear for these exciting products,” said Alex Katouzian, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mobile, Qualcomm Technologies. “Combining AMD processors with our cutting-edge LTE connectivity technology results in always connected client notebooks for consumers in a mobile-first future.”

However no actual product has been revealed and other than announcing this collaboration, no other details have been made public either, so it’s tough to point out what exactly can be expected.

With PC gaming getting increasingly portable, this partnership poses a threat to Intel which has a stranglehold on this segment of the market. For consumers, it means more choice in the future, which is never a bad thing.