Qualcomm pumps LTE into quad-core CPU for sub-$100 mobes

Qualcomm wants to get more LTE smartphones running high-quality video, preferably with its silicon, and has released Snapdragon variant designed to do just that. With competitor MediaTek squarely in its sights, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 210 is a 28-nm for the entry-level market: it's got a 1.1 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, Adreno …

[Anonymous Coward]

Step in the right direction - BUT

....... will the big brands make this sub100$ phones?

Doubt it.

Even if they make it, the distribution in UK is so stitched up that no carrier will ever stock them OR even allow a new manufacturer or new entrant in to the market, without their own pound of flesh (fat) in the offerings.

SO it wont be in the sub100$ range, guaranteed.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Re: Step in the right direction - BUT

They're unlikely to have any option because otherwise every eBay trader and his dog will enter the phone import business otherwise.

The mobile phone market may be sewn up between a few manufacturers, but it is a very fickle market. HTC are declining rapidly, Nokia are certainly no longer the dominant power, Samsung are having difficulties against Chinese competition which is nimble and getting closer to offering competive products at good prices etc.

[(AMPC) Anonymous and mostly paranoid coward]

Re: Step in the right direction - BUT

The Chinese already offer competive products at good prices, check out the Xiaomi

here

http://www.versusos.com/xiaomi-mi4-vs-apple-iphone-6-comparison/

here

http://www.mi.com/en/

I have just bought a Redmi 1S and love it.

Old Chinese saying

"The dragon snaps hard on the heels of its competitors.... grasshopper" .....or something like that

El Reg needs an android icon

[Tapeador]

Re: Step in the right direction - BUT

The Redmi 1S looks great but no 4G :-(

[Mikel]

Great!

What an amazing time to live.

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if they don;t sell in Europe

...it makes it easier for APAC companies to sell at the prices their customers want, and as 'Marcus Aurelius' posted above, this will mean imports and resales into Europe. If you look at the mobile market as three tiered, with the Samsung Galaxy S5s and HTC M8s at the top, the real growth is probably not into a saturated and expensive tier, but in the low end, with the <100USD phones. Emerging markets need these so it's less return per device, but lots more of them.