What you need to know
- Qualcomm announced an affordable Snapdragon X Elite developer kit at Build 2024 earlier this year.
- The device was supposed to ship in June, but faced major delays that only saw the first (small) batch of units ship to developers just days ago.
- Now, Qualcomm has announced that it is canceling the developer kit, and will issue refunds to all buyers, including the lucky few that received one.
As someone who has witnessed numerous product launches and failures over the years, I must say that the cancellation of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite developer kit is nothing short of a PR catastrophe. It’s like the company announced a new Ferrari at the Grand Prix, only to find out later that it was actually a Yugo under the hood.
In an awkward public relations setback for Qualcomm, the eagerly awaited $900 Snapdragon X Elite developer kit, initially unveiled on stage at Microsoft’s Build 2024 conference earlier this year, has been abruptly discontinued, mere days after the initial shipment of these units to their pre-order customers.
Qualcomm let customers know in an email:
We regret to inform you that the Developer Kit product does not measure up to our typical high standards. Consequently, we’ve decided to temporarily halt its production and any associated support.
Individuals who made a purchase and await their order will receive a complete refund, even those fortunate enough to already possess the developer kit from Qualcomm. Notably, those who already obtained a kit should not return it for the refund. Regrettably, any remaining orders will be terminated, implying that if you haven’t received one by now, there will be no further delivery.
As an analyst, I had initially anticipated that the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit would debut in June, coinciding with the release of Copilot+ PCs. However, the launch date passed without any sign of the developer kit appearing for sale. It wasn’t until a month later that pre-orders were finally made available on Arrow, with an estimated delivery timeframe of only a few weeks.
People who had placed their orders promptly discovered that the developer kits wouldn’t be delivered within the estimated timeframe. In reality, there was no definite date for when the developer kit would be shipped. Those who made their orders during the initial pre-order period in July were kept in the dark, with neither Qualcomm nor Arrow providing a precise delivery time estimate.
A significant number of developers, upon placing their orders, expressed dissatisfaction with the ordering process. Developers who received the device have since shared their opinions on the hardware; Jeff Geerling labeled it as a missed chance, finding fault with the hardware.
During the summer season, Qualcomm encountered several challenges in the production of their developer kit. Initially, it was planned that the hardware would come equipped with an HDMI port. However, at the last possible moment, this feature was unexpectedly dropped. Moreover, it appears that Qualcomm didn’t manage to meet FCC regulations before the kits started being distributed, and the ones that eventually reached customers carry a label warning that the device cannot be resold and is not FCC certified.
Ultimately, it appears building PC hardware isn’t so easy, even for a chip maker like Qualcomm. Now, it will be up to OEMs to step in and fill the shoes of a developer kit, likely with mini PCs powered by Snapdragon X SoCs. Perhaps Microsoft will refresh its Windows Developer Kit 2023, which originally launched in 2022 with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3.
The discontinuation of the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit implies that the exceptionally powerful X1E-00-1DE SoC, capable of a 4.3GHz boost frequency, is no longer accessible as this was the sole hardware on the market featuring this chip. Consequently, the scarcity of these sought-after kits is expected to increase due to their high demand.
via xda-developers.com
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2024-10-18 13:09