Lenovo teases first 5G laptop powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx

Lenovo may very well be the first out of the gate with a laptop using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx processor, the company teased during an MWC 2019 press conference.

The company kept mum about the product in the works beyond the fact that it will use Qualcomm’s new 5G connectivity modem for the 8cx platform, Anandtech reports. Given how premium (and pricey) the projected slate of 5G-supporting phones and other products have been, expect Lenovo's device to be expensive.

And yet, ever since the Snapdragon 8cx's debut in December 2018 during Qualcomm’s Tech Day event in Hawaii, and even following CES 2019, we haven't heard of any Snapdragon 8cx products in the works until this Lenovo device. Which is very, very strange.

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Given that following the initial announcement of Snapdragon on Windows 10 laptops – way back in late 2017 – was paired with not one but three devices using the technology, this is rather disconcerting.

Why so slow to start?

As to why we’ve not seen a single Snapdragon 8cx laptop on the market yet is anyone’s guess, but there are some likely causes. One, laptop makers are likely reticent to pick up on Snapdragon 8cx given the poor performance of the previous platform (Snapdragon 850) and the speed at which Qualcomm moved on from it to this version.

Two, many laptop makers likely were – and still are – waiting for 5G to truly take off before investing into Qualcomm’s latest PC platform. And, three, it’s likely that some laptop makers are waiting to see how competitors use Qualcomm’s processor before making a move.

Regardless, adoption of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx might be an uphill battle, especially if Lenovo’s first laptop to use the processor isn’t a slam dunk.