Just before the Mobile World Congress (MWC) confab, where techies meet to enjoy tapas in Barcelona while learning about all things mobile, Qualcomm announced a new software suite. These new offerings seek to enable AI capabilities on existing Snapdragon mobile platforms. While most training of Deep Neural Networks is done in the cloud on NVIDIA GPUs, the use of these AI networks can often be done (calculated) on a mobile CPU--especially if that CPU is more than just a CPU. For Qualcomm, this is a statement of the company's intent to compete with Apple on smarter apps and smarter phones. First, Qualcomm announced the AI Engine, libraries and tools that will enable smart AI apps to use the CPU, DSP, and GPU across the company's Snapdragon chips.

Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon 700 series platform that will soon power mid-range Android phones. The new series of mobile processors will be able to bring some of the features of the Snapdragon 800 series to more affordable handsets. For users of flagship Android phones, their devices are likely packing the Snapdragon 800 series, while mid-rangers are packing the Snapdragon 660. For entry level handsets, those are packing the Snapdragon 200 or the 400 series. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 700 is intended to bridge the gap between the mid-range and flagship phones.