Qualcomm To Offer GPU Driver Updates On Google Play Store For Some Snapdragon Chips (hothardware.com) 8
MojoKid writes: At its Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii this week, Qualcomm unveiled the new Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, which enable next year's flagship 5G Android phones with more performance, a stronger Tensor-based AI processor and a very interesting new forthcoming feature not yet offered for any smartphone platform to date. The company announced that it will eventually start delivering driver updates for its Adreno GPU engines on board the Snapdragon 865 as downloadable packages via the Google Play Store. This is big news for smartphones, as GPU drivers are rarely updated out of band, if ever, and typically have to wait for the next major Android release. And even then, many OEMs don't bother putting in the effort to ensure that mobile GPUs are running the most current graphics drivers from Qualcomm. The process, which would have to be pre-qualified by major OEMs as well, will be akin to what the PC GPU 3D graphics driver ecosystem has been benefiting from for a long time, for maximum performance and compatibility. Unfortunately, at least currently, GPU driver update support is limited to only the Adreno 650 core on board the new Snapdragon 865, which currently supports updating drivers in this fashion. Here's hoping this program is met with success and Qualcomm will begin to enable the feature for legacy and new midrange Snapdragon platforms as well.
A step in the right direction (Score:2)
Just need other oems to follow this path and one day we might be able to install android on devices like we can install linux. This will also help custom rom makers build a android install from aosp for phone models that the phone maker has abandoned.
It needs to be asked (Score:3)
Is Qualcomm the new "Microsoft" of this era?? Running any and all competitors into the ground no matter what it takes.
Re: (Score:3)
Is Qualcomm the new "Microsoft" of this era?? Running any and all competitors into the ground no matter what it takes.
If all it takes to run the competitors into the ground is releasing driver updates, the competitors deserve to be buried.
Re: (Score:3)
Who wants to deliver this? (Score:2)
The problem I see is that phone manufacturers are perfectly happy about the current state where people buy new devices when the old ones get too slow, insecure, and unsupported by apps. They have no incentive to spend money improving something they have already cashed in on and that will generate *less* income from future sales.
Re: Who wants to deliver this? (Score:2)
Pokemon on my LG G2, finally (Score:2)
Can't wait to see this wonderful new driver update.