Qualcomm was preparing a Dev Kit for Windows on ARM that would be one of the most affordable mini PCs with Snapdragon X Elite on the market. The product, however, was officially cancelled, as revealed by the manufacturer itself in warning emails to its customers who had already ordered.
The company does not go into detail about the reason for cancellation, saying only that the mini PC “did not meet its standards of excellence”. The product was announced months ago, so it’s curious that Qualcomm took so long to make this decision.
Qualcomm canceled orders and began refunding its customers, but some of the devices were shipped early to some developers. Thus, there is a bit of speculation about what may have actually caused the cancellation of the Dev Kit. According to The Verge, the HDMI port may have something to do with it.
Non-HDMI problem?
One of the devs who received the mini PC was Jeff Geerling, and he showed that the device came without the HDMI connection, which it should have. It is possible to find the components for converting DisplayPort to HDMI, but nothing about the port itself. Furthermore, Qualcomm even informed its customers that it would send a dongle to convert the USB-C port to HDMI, instead of placing the connection directly on the mini PC.
Therefore, it is speculated that the HDMI connection on the small device did not pass tests by the FCC, a US regulatory agency. If that’s the case, the mini PC would actually have failed to meet FCC standards, not Qualcomm’s, but that’s speculation.
Qualcomm bets on ARM for Windows
Despite giving up its Dev Kit with Windows on ARM, Qualcomm does not seem to slow down its commitment to the partnership with Microsoft. Its Snapdragon X series of processors has Elite and Plus models for different segments of complete computers, mostly notebooks.
Related news:
We have device models arriving with processors in Brazil and Qualcomm, supposedly, is already working on the next generation of the SoC. And, as the portfolio expands, more affordable products will appear and possibly help popularize the platform.
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Source: https://www.adrenaline.com.br/hardware/qualcomm-cancela-seu-mini-pc-de-us-899-com-windows-em-arm/
