Qualcomm Snapdragon Category - CNX Software

May 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Semtech FX86E – A Compact 5G RedCap and 4G LTE modem for industrial IoT applications

Semtech FX86E is a 5G RedCap and 4G LTE cellular modem designed for industrial IoT applications such as rugged, long-range security cameras, heavy-duty vehicles, and various solar/battery-powered applications. Based on the company’s EM8695 M.2 module powered by a Snapdragon X35 5G RedCap modem, the pre-certified modem supports public and private networks, boasts a MIL-STD-810H military-grade design, IP30 protection, E-Mark certification, and low power consumption. Semtech FX86E specifications: SoC/Memory/Storage – TBD Cellular 5G RedCap (Sub-6 Ghz) and LTE Cat-4 Frequency bands 5G RedCap – 5G Sub-6 Ghz (FR1 1CC): n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n13, n14, n18, n20, n25, n26, n28, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n66, n70, n71, n77, n78, n79 4G LTE – LTE (Cat-4 DL / Cat-3 UL): B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B12, B13, B14, B17, B18, B19, B20, B25, B26, B28, B30, B34, B38, B39, B40, B41, B42, B43, B48, B66, B70, […]

April 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Linux 7.0 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.0 on LKML: The last week of the release continued the same “lots of small fixes” trend, but it all really does seem pretty benign, so I’ve tagged the final 7.0 and pushed it out. I suspect it’s a lot of AI tool use that will keep finding corner cases for us for a while, so this may be the “new normal” at least for a while. Only time will tell. Anyway, this last week was a little bit of everything: networking (core and drivers), arch fixes, tooling and selftests, and various random fixes all over the place. Let’s keep testing, and obviously tomorrow the merge window for 7.1 opens. I already have four dozen pull requests pending – thank you to all the early people. Linus This follows the Linux 6.19 release about two months ago, which brought us PCIe link encryption and […]

April 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ASUS Zenbook A16 – A $1699 Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CoPilot+ laptop

ASUS Zenbook A16 is one of the first Copilot+ PCs/laptops based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme 18-core Armv9 SoC and is now available for $1,699 on BestBuy or $1,999 on the ASUS website. The laptop features a 16-inch “3K” OLED with touchscreen, 48GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, HDMI 2.1 video output, WiFi 7 and Bluetooth connectivity, and a few Thunderbolt and USB ports. ASUS Zenbook A16 (UX3607) specifications: SoC – Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) CPU – 18x Armv9 cores with 12 Prime cores up to 5.0 GHz (single/dual core) / 4.4 GHz (multicore), and 6 Efficiency cores up to 3.6 GHz GPU – Adreno X2-90 @ 1.85 GHz with support for DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0 VPU Encode: HEVC, AVC: Dual 8K UHD @ 30 FPS, AV1: 8K UHD @ 15 FPS, UHD @ 60 FPS Decode: AV1, HEVC, AVC: Dual 8K @ 60 […]

March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite wearable platform offers 5G RedCap, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 6.0, built-in AI accelerator

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite is described as the “world’s first Personal AI wearable platform”, and features an NPU for on-device AI delivering up to 12 TOPS of performance at low power, supporting 2B parameter models. It delivers up to 5x single-core CPU improvement and up to 7x faster GPU compared to the previous-generation Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 Wearable Platform while offering up to 30% more battery life for multi-day battery life, thanks to a 3nm architecture. The new Snapdragon Wear Elite platform also supports fast charging with up to 50% charge in under 10 minutes. Snapdragon Wear Elite specifications: CPU – Up to 2.1 GHz GPU Qualcomm Adreno 3D GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, and OpenCL 2.0 APIs 2.5D GPU co-processor clocked at up to 500 MHz ISP – Qualcomm Spectra AI accelerator – Qualcomm Hexagon NPU; up to 12 TOPS of AI performance; support for up tp 2B […]

February 18, 2026February 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

AsteroidOS 2.0 open-source smartwatch OS released, now supports around 30 devices

AsteroidOS 2.0 Linux-based, open-source smartwatch operating system has just been released with features such as always-on display support, Tilt-to-Wake, a customizable QuickPanel, multiple launcher styles, Nightstand mode, performance improvements, and support for about 30 devices. It’s been a long journey. We first noted the open-source project in 2016 when Florent Revest showcased a basic user experience on the LG G Watch, just before giving a talk at FOSDEM 2016 introducing AsteroidOS. This was followed by the launch of the Connect Watch (crowdfunded) AsteroidOS smartwatch in 2017 by a French company (which didn’t get funded), and AsteroidOS 1.0 was released in 2018. So it’s been ten years since it all started, and the developers have now released AsteroidOS 2.0. AsteroidOS 2.0 highlights: New features Always-on Display, Tilt-to-wake, Palm-to-sleep Heart rate monitor app Initial step counting support Music volume control Compass support Support for Bluetooth HID and Audio Design, Usability, and App Improvements […]

February 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 6.19 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): No big surprises anywhere last week, so 6.19 is out as expected – just as the US prepares to come to a complete standstill later today watching the latest batch of televised commercials. The betting man would expect them all to be AI-generated, but maybe some enterprising company decides to buck the trend? Doubtful, but there’s always a slight chance. But for anybody outside the US, maybe taking the newest kernel out for a spin instead is an option? I have more than three dozen pull requests for when the merge window opens tomorrow – thank you to all the early maintainers. And as people have mostly figured out, I’m getting to the point where I’m being confused by large numbers (almost running out of fingers and toes again), so the next kernel is going to […]

January 24, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

FOSDEM 2026 schedule – Embedded, RISC-V, Robotics, Rust, Open Hardware, and more

FOSDEM 2026 will take place on January 31-February 1, with thousands of developers meeting in Brussels to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. The free-to-attend “Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting” gets more traction every year, and in 2026, there will be at least 1,113 speakers, 1,016 events, 70 tracks, and potentially close to 10,000 attendees. As usual, I’ll create a virtual schedule with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms, including “RISC-V”, “Robotics and simulation”, and “FOSS on Mobile”, among others. I’m aware some of the talks overlap by a couple of minutes or so… FOSDEM 2026 Day 1 – Saturday, January 31 10:40 – 11:15 – RISC-V Vector optimisations in FFmpeg by Rémi Denis-Courmont FFmpeg is the most versatile multimedia codec and format support library, and was […]

January 7, 2026 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

Snapdragon X2 Plus 6-core and 10-core processors target low-power Windows Copilot+ PCs

After announcing the high-end Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and X2 Elite processors last year, Qualcomm has now introduced the mid-range Snapdragon X2 Plus platform at CES 2026. While the Elite SKUs target premium laptops, the X2 Plus series is designed for affordable, mainstream Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs. The new lineup includes the X2P-64-100 (10-core) and the X2P-42-100 (6-core), both manufactured on a 3nm process. What’s interesting is that they share the same 80 TOPS AI accelerator, 9523 MT/s LPDDR5x memory support, Snapdragon X75 5G modem, and FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 as the flagship Elite models. This means that the X2 Plus reduces CPU core counts and GPU frequencies to maximize battery life for thin-and-light Windows 11 Copilot+ laptops, but it does not compromise on I/O, media capabilities, or AI performance, as it features the same USB4, PCIe Gen5, and AV1 video support as the top-tier models. Snapdragon […]