Qualcomm becomes a daydream believer

Snapdragon 821 configured for VR

Qualcomm has officially confirmed that its Snapdragon 821 will be able to handle the Google Daydream VR platform.

The first smartphones which will work in the Daydream VR should be around later on in the year. The Snapdragon 821 will be Qualcomm’s new flagship processor and will be the fastest so far.

It has a 10 percent faster CPU and five percent faster graphics processor than the Snapdragon 820, which is in the G5 and the Galaxy S7.

It is a more of a tweak as the Snapdragon 821 and 820 have the same Kryo architecture. But smartphones will have to pull up their socks if they want to run Daydream.

There are no Daydream products  out yet, but Google has set the requirements for smartphones and headsets to support the VR platform. Smartphones will need high-resolution screens and fast CPUs and GPUs. The headsets will need a bevy of sensors to track motion and head movement. Daydream is based on Android 7.0.

So far outfits which have said they are developing mobile devices for Daydream include Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE, Asus, and Alcatel.

Qualcomm is offering the Snapdragon VR software development kit, which will be compatible with Google Daydream.