Qualcomm has released the ‘Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders’, a smartphone for its exclusive users, particularly the ‘Snapdragon Insiders’ community. The community is known for its active participation in several online forums. The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is a result of a collaboration between Qualcomm and Asus. Yeah, Asus built it.
So without any further ado, let’s jump right into details.
First off, the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is expensive. Of course, you are getting TWS earbuds with Snapdragon Sound courtesy of Master & Dynamic, a bumper case, a Quick Charge 5.0 power adapter from Qualcomm, and a couple of charging cables, all bundled along with the device.
Talking about the device, it comes with a 6.78-inch Samsung-made AMOLED panel with 2448 x 1080 pixels resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, and support for Always-on Display.
The front also gets a single 24MP camera placed in the top bezel. You saw it right, the device opts for a bezel at the top while every other manufacturer readily goes with a punch hole, particularly in the high-end segment.
Moving to the rear, there is a fingerprint sensor and a self-illuminating Snapdragon logo right underneath. Towards the top is a triple camera setup including an f/1.8 64MP wide, an f/2.2 12MP ultrawide, and finally an 8MP telephoto shooter with 3x zoom. Not to mention Qualcomm’s own AI software optimization such as auto-zoom, AI object tracking, and more right within the camera app. However, a majority of camera tuning comes from the side of Asus.
As for the fingerprint sensor, it leverages a second-generation 3D Sonic Sensor from Qualcomm similar to what was seen in the Samsung Galaxy S21 lineup. However, due to the use of an OLED screen, it sees its place at the rear rather than under the display.
The smartphone is powered by SD 888 non-Plus chipset coupled with 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 512GB internal storage whilst run on Android 11. Now, the software will likely be closest to the stock Android, though we could see some optimization too.
It has a 4,000mAh battery that is said to go from 0 to 70% in 30 minutes and 0 to 100% in 50 minutes, thanks to the Quick Charge 5.0 charger included right in the box.
Asus will manufacture, market, and sell the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders. It could go on sale anytime during mid-Q3 2021 in China, the US, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea, and finally India for a price of $1500 (which is approx NPR 179,000 in Nepal).
