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Qualcomm's New Processor Brings 4G To Feature Phones As Company Eyes Growth in Developing Markets (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the next-wave-of-phones dept.

With smartphone growth tapped out in many developed countries, the biggest opportunities remaining are in markets where consumers have considerably less disposable income. Qualcomm moved Monday to address this next wave with a renewed chipset for lower-end smartphones and feature phones ("candy phones"). From a report on Fortune: Dubbed the 205 Mobile Platform, the chips will allow less expensive smartphones and even feature phones to connect to 4G LTE networks, which are just spreading in places like Brazil and India. Unlike Qualcomm's top-end chips, which can reach speeds of over 1 gigabit per second on 4G networks, the 205 chips top out at 150 megabits per second. The platform will also include other lower-end capabilities like support for 3-megapixel cameras. "India and the Southeast Asia regions present growth opportunities in the telecom space with 4G adoption rising and continued adoption of feature phones," Jim Cathey, president of Qualcomm Asia Pacific and India, said in a statement.

24 comments

  1. Low margins in this space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once the processors become a commodity item, there is no longer the kind of money to be made there that Qualcomm is used to and investors expect. This type of play never ends well.

    1. Re: Low margins in this space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Won't end well from what perspective? It helps the less wealthy get access to telecommunication and move up the ladder. Not everything you or even a corporation do in life should be about money. From a corporate profit standpoint, those people couldn't have afforded these phones anyway so giving it out at slightly above cost hurts nothing. In fact it may build mindshare/marketing that helps sell the high end products.

    2. Re:Low margins in this space by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      They don't need to make any money in this market segment, they just need to prevent any other designer from making enough money in this segment that they can support the design effort needed to break into the high end.

  2. Emerging markets?? What about the united states? by sims+2 · · Score: 1

    Verizon still does not offer a single flip phone with VoLTE support which will get to be a really big deal when they shut off the 2G service they use for voice in 2020.

    Ok so the ZTE cymbal works on it but isn't officially supported.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  3. Will this bring acceptance of bathrooms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you can have a phone with you, will that convince you to poo in the loo?

  4. Nokia? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

    Could this drive the 3310 retro phone, which was obsolete at launch for countries lacking a 2G network?

  5. feature phones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is the reasoning behind this term? From the context, it sounds like 'feature phones' means 'phones with no features'... WTF?

    1. Re:feature phones? by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      It's has one distinguishing feature, a phone.

      A smartphone is all about the apps, and I barely use the phone part of mine. The phone part kind of sucks anyways.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    2. Re:feature phones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wondered the same since I never head this term nor "candy phone".

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_phone

      Basically, not a smartphone. I guess the only feature is phone-related capabilities ;)

    3. Re: feature phones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah I feel like it should be called featureless phones.

    4. Re:feature phones? by tsqr · · Score: 1

      "Feature phone" is a retronym for the type of cell phone that pre-dated the smartphone. Common features are calendars, simple games, and limited, slow internet access. And, no, "retronym" was not coined just to distinguish old-style phones from smart ones. Some other examples of retronyms are "analog clock", "acoustic guitar", and "cloth diaper".

    5. Re: feature phones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As someone who worked as a mobile phone chip designer from 2001 until 2012, I can tell you that the term "feature phone" was already widely used for higher end phones, compared to the standard models that could handle voice and SMS.

      Candy phones? They were / are called candy bar phones, or just bar phones, thicker and less wide than current smartphones, just like candy bars.

      And standby times got above 6 weeks for some models, until Apple became the new star to run after, and made phones acceptable that would break when dropped, and wouldn't last even 2 days without recharging ...

  6. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    We'll always be a bit backwards here, that's the American way. I support preserving traditional cellphones, as God intended.

    U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  7. Good, burner phone market is going to go up fast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since no one should bring a smartphone into the US any more anyway, so feature phones like this will be welcomed -- they'll be cheap and not a big deal to lose.

  8. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What exactly are you talking about?

  9. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by John.Banister · · Score: 1

    The original Nokia 3310.

  10. Wrong focus by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Rather than focus on phones, shouldn't they focus on making 4G widely accessible to the infrastructure equipment of developing markets? It's not tough to have a 4G phone such as a Galaxy, iPhone or even a Lumia in a developing country, but if their telco companies don't offer 4G services, it's pretty worthless

    1. Re:Wrong focus by tepples · · Score: 1

      It's a chicken and egg situation. But once support for LTE becomes common in subscribers' hardware, the carriers will have an incentive to upgrade their own hardware to support LTE.

    2. Re:Wrong focus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just as an example: in India, everybody has a Galaxy of some sort, and some have Lumias or iPhones. So support already IS there for LTE in subscriber hardware, but only 2 companies support it - Airtel and Reliance Jio. So the eggs are already laid, but hardly any chickens in sight. I doubt that the situation would be much better in other developing countries, such as, say, Kenya or Zambia.

  11. fisar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    jag är en fis

  12. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    flip phone users won't tolerate the "smart phone" surcharges and mandatory data fees that smart phone users willingly and blindly pay to have the latest and greatest, and the internet in their pocket. that's why they use the dumb phones in the first place -- they're cheaper.. both up front hardware costs (50usd up front, or less, no contract or extension needed) AND monthly fees (no data = cheaper)

  13. $36 per year by tepples · · Score: 1

    Data plan cramming used to be a thing four years ago. Nowadays, T-Mobile USA allows use of an Android phone on even a $3/mo prepaid plan.

  14. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    DynaTAC is also an acceptable answer.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  15. Re:Emerging markets?? What about the united states by John.Banister · · Score: 1

    A new DynaTAC with the 205 platform and some 21700s could be a fun phone. No one would touch it for standby time. Customers who insist on texting could get a bluetooth keyboard and an ebike display as accessories. Might be difficult convincing Lenovo to produce it though.