$13 Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 connectivity (Bouffalo Lab BL618 inside)

The Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK

Back in November 2024, we wrote about Qualcomm’s QCC730M and QCC74xM modules for low-power IoT devices, but at the time, there was no evaluation board EVK for those SoCs. Fast forward to today, and the official development boards for the QCC74x series have finally been released, complete with a surprisingly affordable price tag. The Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK is a tri-radio evaluation board with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee) with a price tag of just over $13. But what is interesting is that, while it carries the Qualcomm brand, documentation from the Zephyr Project clearly shows that the QCC74x series is actually based on and mostly equivalent to the Bouffalo Lab BL61x series, specifically the BL618. Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK specifications: Wireless Module – Qualcomm QCC74xM LGA Module (QCC743M, QCC744M, or QCC748M depending on the board variant) CPU – 32-bit RISC-V processor (RV32IMAFCP) @ up to 325 MHz with FPU […]

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

Linux 7.0

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 […]

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

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme 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 […]

Qualcomm X105 6G-ready 5G modem to deliver 14.8 Gbps download and 4.2 Gbps upload peak data speeds

Qualcomm X105 5G Model RF

Qualcomm X105 is the world’s first 3GPP Release 19-ready modem-RF system supporting 5G connectivity up to 14.8 Gbps download and 4.2 Gbps upload peak data speeds, and enabling 6G development and testing. Other Qualcomm X105 highlights include a 6nm RF transceiver with 30% lower power consumption and 15% smaller board footprint compared to the Qualcomm X85 5G modem, support for quad-band GNSS, an integrated NR-NTN for video, data and voice over satellite, and a fifth-generation AI processor leveraging agentic AI to detect, classify, and optimize data traffic for mobile gaming, video calling, and social media. Qualcomm X105 Modem-RF system specifications: Peak speeds Download – 14.8 Gbps (FR1 + FR2), 13.1 Gbps (FR1) Upload – 4.2 Gbps Downlink Carrier Aggregation: 6F+T CA (500MHz) with 1024 QAM TDD/FDD with 1024 QAM Turbo DSDA enhancements, including Multi-SIM CA support (up to 60% higher throughput) 3rd-gen 6Rx for smartphones and FWA CPEs (with 10% […]

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

Snapdragon Wear Elite

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 […]

Qualcomm Wi-Fi 8 solutions – FastConnect 8800 Mobile Client and Qualcomm Dragonwing Networking Platforms

Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 WiFi 8 client

Qualcomm has unveiled its Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) portfolio, which includes the FastConnect 8800 “Mobile Connectivity System”, also integrating Bluetooth 7 wireless technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB), and Thread,  and five Dragonwing Networking platforms for access points and routers. The Dragonwing NPro A8 Elite features a 5×5 Wi-Fi 8 radio system for high-performance enterprise access points and premium home routers, the Dragonwing FiberPro A8 Elite offers similar features but adds 10G fiber access (PON) for fiber-to-the-home gateways, the Dragonwing FWA Gen 5 Elite is designed for fixed wireless access using the Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF System, and the Qualcomm Dragonwing N8 and F8 platforms offer mainstream tier options for Ethernet and fiber broadband CPEs. Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 Wi-Fi 8 mobile client Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 (WCN885x) specifications: Wi-Fi 8 with advanced features like UWB, including  and RADAR Support for Snapdragon Sound™ Technology Suite, Bluetooth® High Data Throughput (HDT), and Qualcomm XPAN Proximity AI […]

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

Linux 6.19

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 […]

8devices Maca 2 – A ultra-long-range data radio with 80km range for drones and robotics

8devices Maca 2

8devices Maca 2 high-power plug-and-play ultra-long-range wireless data radio targets drones, UAS, robotics, interceptor systems, industrial IoT, and defense-grade communications, where long range, resilience, and scalability are critical. The device features high transmit power of up to 39 dBm (with 36 dBm per RF chain) and a receiver sensitivity of –98 dBm, and is designed for air-to-ground and point-to-point connectivity over distances of up to 80 km. To maintain stable links over extreme distances, the radio supports ultra-narrow channel widths ranging from 1.5 MHz to 19.5 MHz, significantly improving signal-to-noise ratio and resistance to interference and jamming. Additionally, it includes dual Ethernet, USB 2.0, UART, GPIO, and 14–33 V power input. It also supports industrial temperature operation and NDAA/TAA-compliant manufacturing. For unmanned systems, the radio allows users to manage bandwidth asymmetry. It’s a feature where a user can allocate 90% of the channel to downstream video data while reserving 10% […]

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