Qualcomm has made the decision to cancel its Snapdragon Dev Kit, a compact Windows on Arm PC that was initially slated for release in June. In a communication sent to customers, the company stated that the mini PC “has not met our usual standards of excellence,” leading to a full refund of orders.
The journey to launch this dev kit has been fraught with challenges, as Qualcomm struggled to deliver the device for several months. Originally intended to accompany the first wave of Copilot Plus PCs, the cancellation raises questions about the delays, particularly since Qualcomm has not provided specific reasons for the extended timeline before reaching this conclusion.
Some developers, including Jeff Geerling, received their units prior to the announcement. Geerling conducted a thorough teardown and review of the hardware, noting that while its performance was comparable to Apple’s M3 Pro, it fell short due to a lack of Linux support and peculiar resale restrictions. This has led to speculation that the cancellation may be linked to a seemingly innocuous HDMI port.
HDMI Port Troubles
Geerling discovered that while the necessary components for an internal DisplayPort to HDMI conversion were present, the HDMI port itself was conspicuously absent. Richard Campbell, founder of the DEVIntersection conferences, suggested in a recent TWiT episode that the missing HDMI port could have caused production delays, potentially failing FCC compliance testing. Additionally, Qualcomm had previously informed customers that the dev kit would instead ship with a USB-C to HDMI dongle.
Despite its niche appeal, the dev kit was intended to be a crucial tool for developers aiming to adapt their applications for Windows on Arm. Both Microsoft and Qualcomm have been actively encouraging developers to prepare their software for laptops powered by Snapdragon X Elite, achieving some notable successes with applications like Chrome becoming native to Arm64. Google is also set to introduce its Drive app to Windows on Arm later this year, while VPN services such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN recently launched their Arm64-compatible versions, alongside the Arc browser.
This gradual embrace of Windows on Arm could have been a significant success story, yet the dev kit’s cancellation has cast a shadow over these advancements. As Qualcomm prepares for its upcoming Snapdragon summit later this month, the company may need to clarify its strategy for desktop PCs in light of this setback.
