Snapdragon platforms to power new Galaxy smartphones, watches, and eyewear
At Samsung Unpacked on July 23, 2026, Qualcomm Technologies announced that its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, Snapdragon Wear Elite, and Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 will power Samsung's newest devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Flip8, Galaxy Watch9, Galaxy Watch Ultra2, and new Intelligent Eyewear. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is built on the Qualcomm Oryon CPU, which Qualcomm describes as the world's fastest mobile CPU, and is intended to drive Galaxy AI experiences across Samsung's foldable smartphones. Snapdragon powers the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Watch9, and Galaxy Watch Ultra2 globally, while Galaxy Z Flip8 uses Snapdragon only in select regions.
Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, framed the deal as the entry into a new era of on-device AI, while Won-joon Choi, President and COO of Samsung Electronics' MX Business, said the new Galaxy lineup was the result of close engineering collaboration with Qualcomm to optimize Snapdragon platforms for each form factor. Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google are also extending their Android XR collaboration beyond Galaxy XR headsets into intelligent eyewear powered by Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1, with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker unveiling additional designs that will roll out this fall.
Galaxy Watch moves from Exynos to Snapdragon Wear Elite
Samsung's Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2 will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite for the first time, replacing the Exynos W1000 that Samsung used in the Galaxy Watch 7, the first-generation Galaxy Watch Ultra, and the Galaxy Watch 8 series. Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon Wear Elite at Mobile World Congress in March, featuring a dedicated neural processing unit, advanced sensor fusion, and high-performance connectivity designed for continuous health and context awareness. Samsung's Mobile Experience division reportedly selected the Qualcomm chipset to support the advanced health and outdoor activity features in this year's Galaxy Watch lineup. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon appeared on stage at Galaxy Unpacked 2026 in London to underscore the partnership's expansion into wearables. Separately, the new Galaxy Z Flip8 ships with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in U.S. models and Exynos 2600 in selected markets including Korea and Europe, continuing Samsung's mixed-vendor approach to its foldable phones.
Hyperscaler agreements for AI data-center chips
Qualcomm has signed agreements to supply AI data-center processors to three major hyperscale customers, with Microsoft Azure and Meta Platforms publicly confirmed as partners. The deals center on Qualcomm's AI200 and AI250 accelerator cards and racks, the newly introduced Dragonfly AI300 inference accelerator aimed at agentic AI workloads, and the Dragonfly C1000 data-center CPU that Meta plans to deploy across its next-generation server fleet as part of a multi-generation collaboration. Microsoft Azure is set to integrate Qualcomm's High-Bandwidth Compute (HBC) architecture alongside the AI200 and AI250 accelerators.
Qualcomm says its HBC design, which links processing cores directly to high-bandwidth memory, delivers 4 to 8 times more computing performance per watt than existing GPU-based architectures. The Dragonfly C1000 is described as featuring more than 250 cores, PCIe Generation 7 connectivity, CXL memory coherency, and LPDDR memory, with manufacturing handled by TSMC. Qualcomm entered the AI data-center market in October 2025 with its AI200 and AI250 announcement and expanded the portfolio last month with the Dragonfly AI300 and the Meta collaboration.
$15 billion data-center revenue target by fiscal 2029
Qualcomm management is targeting at least $15 billion in AI data-center revenue by fiscal 2029, up from essentially zero data-center revenue a year earlier. For context, Qualcomm reported $44.3 billion in total revenue in fiscal 2025, which ended in September. To reach its target, the company would need to capture roughly 10% of the global AI processor market, which Precedence Research projects will reach $146 billion by 2029. Qualcomm also expects its non-smartphone divisions, encompassing automotive technology and IoT solutions, to grow at a compound annual rate of 40% through 2029.
In its most recent reported quarter, Qualcomm posted earnings per share of $2.65, ahead of consensus expectations of $2.56, on revenue of $10.60 billion that met forecasts but fell 3.5% year over year. Management guided Q3 2026 EPS to between $2.10 and $2.30, with full-year EPS projected at $7.97. Analyst coverage has been mixed recently: Barclays upgraded QCOM from underweight to overweight in late June, Benchmark raised its price objective from $225 to $300, Wells Fargo lifted its target from $230 to $265, and Cantor Fitzgerald maintained a neutral stance with a $220 target. Across 38 analyst ratings, the consensus sits at Hold with an average price objective of $219.76, while QCOM shares recently traded between $173 and $175, roughly 30% below the 52-week peak of $259.92.
Production roadmap and rollout milestones
Production of the Dragonfly C1000 for Meta's server fleet is scheduled for the second half of 2028, with chip sampling targeted for 2027. The Microsoft Azure deployment timeline is reported differently across coverage: one source indicates rollout beginning in 2026, while another states the HBC chips will be utilized by Azure beginning next year, placing deployment in 2027. Qualcomm's broader near-term milestones include upcoming quarterly earnings reporting, while investors are weighing execution risks such as high-bandwidth memory availability and competition from GPU incumbents and in-house hyperscaler silicon designs.
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