Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon Seamless for Cross Platform Linking of Windows PC, Android Devices

Qualcomm announced a host of new products and services, including its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii on Tuesday. The company also unveiled a new cross-platform technology that allows for seamless linking of multiple devices in a single ecosystem. Snapdragon Seamless, the company said, enables Android, Windows and Snapdragon devices using other operating systems to discover each other, share peripherals and data.

While Microsoft Windows includes a Phone Link feature, Android devices and PCs are still quite some steps behind the smooth cross platforming linking between an iPhone and a Mac. Over the years, Apple has developed a healthy ecosystem between its devices, so linking two or more Apple products and continue using its services across devices remains seamless. With Snapdragon Seamless, Qualcomm attempts to bring a similar level of connectivity between Snapdragon-powered mobile devices and Windows PC.

With the technology, supported devices will be easily able to discover each other and work as a single integrated system, Qualcomm said in its press release. The company said that often devices from different manufacturers do not communicate with each other smoothly, thus reducing consumer choice and creating lock-in where consumers feel stuck with one manufacturer so their devices can work together. “With Snapdragon Seamless, device manufacturers and OS partners can enhance and extend their multi-device experiences for consumers,” the release said.

Snapdragon Seamless can make mice and keyboard work smoothly across PCs, phones and tablets. It will also allow users to drag and drop files and active windows across devices. It can also allow earbuds to switch intelligently based on the priority of the audio source.

Qualcomm said that Microsoft, Android, Xiaomi, ASUS, Honor, Lenovo, and OPPO, among others, are collaborating with the company to create multi-device cross platform experiences enabled by Snapdragon Seamless. The service will arrive on global device platforms later this year, but no specific rollout window was mentioned.

According to Qualcomm, Snapdragon Seamless is incorporated into its mobile platforms, including its latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3; its newest PC platform, Snapdragon X Elite, and its wearable and hearable platforms. The cross-platform technology will also be extended to XR, Auto and IoT platforms in the future.

At the Snapdragon Summit, the company unveiled its latest flagship mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, bringing a host of new generative AI features and 240 fps gaming support. Qualcomm also announced its new Snapdragon X Elite platform for PCs, showing off impressive numbers, including 50 percent "faster peak multi-threaded performance" when compared to Apple Silicon M2, and up to twice the CPU performance compared to Intel Core i7-13800H.