Qualcomm signs multi-billion dollar deal with OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi

Qualcomm has reached an agreement on a deal worth US$12 billion with OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi. The deal, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was reached during the course of President Trump's state visit to Beijing this week.

Particular details of the deal are unknown but it’s expected that its one that will see more Qualcomm-produced Snapdragon chipsets used on OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi devices in the near future. All three smartphone makers already use Snapdragon SoCs on their devices, with the exception of a select few offerings that opt for MediaTek ones, so this deal would further strengthen that bond. Considering the fact that the three companies represent the bottom half of the top six smartphone companies in the world, this deal is one that will cement Qualcomm’s dominance at the top of the smartphone ecosystem. Moreso since the upper half of the top six all use their own in-house processors (Exynos, Kirin, and Apple A-XX).

Most negatively affected by this deal would be MediaTek, as the Taiwanese manufacturers have found life difficult over the past year, a steady decline pushing them to reportedly abandon their flagship Helio X series in the hopes of regaining some semblance of a grip on the budget and mid-range segments.

Qualcomm recently released the Snapdragon 636, an SoC that seeks to build on the successes of the Snapdragon 625 and 630 that came before it, while gunning for the performance levels of the mid-range Snapdragon 660 heavyweight (which powers OPPO’s recent R11 and R11s flagships). Xiaomi’s upcoming Redmi Note 5 has been speculated to feature the Snapdragon 636, and this deal may mean there’s a higher chance of that happening. Or we could get the Snapdragon 625 again; who knows?