Qualcomm Is Reportedly Working On A "Knockoff" Switch, Powered By Android

When other companies take opportunity from Switch's success by releasing cookie cutter machines, Nintendo Switch is still my best choice to play dedicated video games.

Here's the problem I have with any rumors following on from this report. Qualcomm is not a manufacturer, they are a design company, they do not market to consumers - they focus on b2b. They outsource all manufacturing to companies like TSM. Their specialty is designing chipsets, but they design other computer components as well. and only manufacture in bulk what they have contracted to sell. While I have no doubt that they can craft a gaming tablet using their snapdragon processor, this is likely a concept piece intended to be sold or relicensed to one of their partners.

I could see Asus, Huawei, or Razer hopping on this, but ... The problem still remains that Android controller gaming is generally a lackluster experience. Few games support controllers on Android. Notable exceptions include Call of Duty, Fortnite, and various streaming services (Luna, Stadia, xCloud). Even Genshin Impact doesn't support controller on Android.

Now an interesting twist could be... Would they market this to Nintendo as a 2nd or 3rd gen unit? If so, could they make it backwards compatible?

If they sale more than 10 I'd be surprised. They're not exactly a company that's really widely known, and they're not exactly the most popular among those that do know them.

I’ll stick with the real deal, thanks.

Yeah fake. Qualcomm is a design company, not a manufacturer, and even then, they mainly make chipsets for phones. There's no way that they see a positively financial reason to make a handheld. The most I can see them doing Switch-related is a chip made for a newer Switch model, maybe.

Other than that possibility, this rumor is bogus.

@Wilforce true and good points however look at google - they’re an advertising company yet they make hardware with smartphones etc...

Qualcomm have the funds to make a device like this...

Starting a trend already, and now the Yanks are doing it, Nintendo gonna sue! 😂

Four years too late.

Seeing that Qualcomm have a long established stable of world class AAA first party franchises and a solid line of third party developers to support the system, I think Nintendo could be in serious trouble here..

I think the only serious competitor that Nintendo could have would be Apple. Everyone else just throws Processor and GPU power up the ass into those machines and they think that‘ll do the trick.

@HotGoomba
It exists to push the Epic Games Store which is the real reason behind Timmy’s ***** fits, they want it on every device possible even the big three’s console and will use lawsuits to try to force this so they can proceed to use Tencent’s money to buy up developers and lock exclusives to it, I’d say their whole goal behind doing all this is to attempt the near impossibility that is being a console competitor to the big three. A hint to their intentions is how they’ve treated the EGS app on PC, it’s a laggy inferior mess to Steam yet they never use their vast resources to improve this and instead keep buying exclusives which has lead to increased piracy so it would appear that they are trying to undermine PC as a gaming platform, if their goal is a Epic/Tencent console they are using the PC as testbed for what they wanna do to everything else.
As we saw last year they had a calculated PR campaign designed to rile up children against Apple ready to go when they intentionally broke Apple’s rules so they are on the record as acting maliciously. Also keep in mind that they cloud this behind tasteless rhetoric comparing their actions to the civil rights movement, it’s tasteless enough as-is then you consider that the moment that stated this was over Epic wanting to maximize the profits they get from Fortnite which primary come from children they’ve psychologically manipulated into becoming “whales”.

Even Nvidia failed with "Shield". I don't see how this can do any better unless they lower the price to 200

@Duffman92 I tried apple's "netflix for gamers" approach. Dont think its very succesful. I even got a MFI gamepad for iphone but couldn't get in any of the games. Apple Arcade has failed to host any must-play games, and game makers speaking to Bloomberg suggested that the service's subscriber growth has been weak.

Reading the source AP article, it looks like this is a prototype or design concept that Qualcomm are hawking around to OEMs and carriers. Going to market themselves with it is probably just one option they're considering internally (or just a justification to spend the R&D budget in the first place).
@Duffman92 I make you right. Apple with their Arcade subscription service are the only real competitor in the handheld console space to Nintendo

@Yas What do you mean by that, I wonder?

I have an Apple TV which has access to great games, most of them were included for free with Arcade. They also work on my phone and iPad. Yet I still end up buying those same games for switch because I just don't enjoy them on these platforms... I stopped my subscription of Arcade last month and I don't miss it at all. Android obviously gets the same (or maybe even more) console game releases as iOS. but still it doesn't give the platform that game feeling

Sneer all you like, but it would at least have Netflix.

@GrandScribe "They're not exactly a company that's really widely known"

? Not at all. Qualcomm is very popular among Android fans. Many would prefer Qualcomm's Snapdragon instead of other SoC.

I don't think Qualcomm is competing with Switch at all. For Android community, the ability to play emulator is already a good prospect. Add with xCloud too.. yes not many Android games support controller officially but most can be 'forced' like how Asus ROG did. Let's not forget we can watch Netflix and other streaming services too.

time for Nintendo ninjas attack again.

It basically means nothing if it doesn't have great games.

@The_Mysteron You can't "cease and desist" something for being a bit like the Switch--that's not how this stuff works.

@SalvorHardin There's no genuinely good reason they shouldn't be allowed to put their gaming service on every platform imo. Similar to how I think Steam should be allowed to do the same.

I'll give you a knock off! Knock it off with these dumb knock offs!
If i wanna play something like switch then I'll play a switch.

Eh, they'll never get anywhere with this. They can't compete with the Big Three. What do they even know about making gaming consoles?

some guy, talking about Microsoft when the original XBox was announced.

@impurekind "You can't "cease and desist" something for being a bit like the Switch--that's not how this stuff works."

I don't know what qualifies you to say that, because you absolutely can send a cease and desist letter if you believe a competitor has copied your product design. 🤔

@BreathingMiit So do all modern TVs, PCs, and smartphones. People don't buy a video game system specifically to stream TV and movies, and most people already have a device that's fully capable of doing so if they're willing and able to buy the necessary subscriptions. This isn't like when buying a PS2 was the cheapest and most convenient way to get a DVD player.

@The_Mysteron Well, technically speaking, you can send a cease and desist letter for whatever reason you like in this life. But that does not equal any merit in said letter, and it certainly won't justify any legal expenses if there is no merit other than "They made a portable device that's going to compete with ours, and you can take of the controller parts in some way". And I don't think Nintendo will be sending any letters in cases like this where there is likely zero merit, because lawyers and legal cases cost a lot! Although, we've yet to see the actual device, so let's see if it's an actual copy of Nintendo's patents and/or trademarks and/or copyright or not....

Me . . . I doubt it.

The main point I'm making is that people like you like to throw around this idea that Nintendo has the right to shut down anyone and anything that even remotely resembles any of its works in any form, and that's not how this stuff works--and it's not a good habit to be encouraging imo.

Example: Nintendo could issue a cease and desist on a company for literally using its copyrighted Mario art in their product, such as directly ripping Mario sprites from one of its games, or even using art that is so close to Mario's design that most people would assume it is a use of the copyrighted and trademarked material. But it couldn't "cease and desist" the following design (because it literally uses none of Nintendo's copyrighted/trademarked art/designs--at all):

https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/387/056/large/andrew-domachowski-mario-web3.jpg?1443929669

Any image of a plumber dude wearing some red and blue overalls is not immediately breaching Nintendo's copyright.

Any portable console that has detachable mini controllers is not instantly breaching Nintendo's Switch/Joy-Con patents.

If there is no actual use of copyrighted/trademarked/patented works then there is literally zero legal case there.

Nintendo is already abusing its power enough as is in this regard, and there's already too many too ignorant people who fall victim to it far too often, so fanboys really need to stop immediately handing Nintendo absolute power over everything as a matter of habit imo.

@JasmineDragon

"Hardware isn't where its at for us, as long as we have people tied into our online paid ecosystem then its all gravy baby".

Some MS exec, a few months ago.

What I want to know is if a manufacturer simply intends to put existing storefronts from other businesses on their platform as the only way to gain games, surely they'd end up making far less money outside of selling their hardware.

Plus, all that for $300 doesn't sound like much profit to me.

If it has enough grunt to run all play store games well, and if it has access to streaming services when plugged into a TV, this can work.
It would need another source for lower spec PC games. Nintendo's edge is it's IP and own studio partnerships, quite why Switch isn't already using Nvidia Now yet is simply odd, it would massively bulk out the library for streamers. Unless everyone would rather take the risk porting the games to hardware (which isn't what we are seeing 4 years on even).
Nvidia and Nintendo's partnership seems to be purely that they bought parts and tools from them, and leveraged their manufacturing contacts in China, after Wii U had utterly destroyed any bargaining power Nintendo had in the sector (they cancelled forecast repeat orders so the factories had to seek out completely different contracts and had to retool).

@Iggy-Koopa The Series S and X had the highest launch sales the XBox brand has ever had, and MS just acquired Bethesda. I'd say gaming is working out pretty well for Microsoft.

@impurekind "The main point I'm making is that people like you like to throw around this idea that Nintendo has the right to shut down anyone and anything that even remotely resembles any of its works in any form, and that's not how this stuff works--and it's not a good habit to be encouraging imo."

I literally posted a funny gif and you got all of that from there? Okay buddy. You must be great fun at parties.

People can copy the Switch as much as they want but by far it's biggest selling point is Nintendo's games which none of these others will be able to replicate

Windows 10 now runs on Qualcomm's ARM chips, through x86 emulation. So I'd rather see Qualcomm make an ARM-based Windows gaming portable, than an Android portable.

They would easily lose against not only Nintendo, but Tencent as well. As usual, Android games have to be optimized universally, so the general performance of Android games are usually always subpar to console and PC games. Tencent at least had the right mindset of focusing on PC, especially considering PC games dominate China's video game market.

@NintendoGamerGuy I mean Nintendo had the market cornered, 4 years ago. This unit hasn't got a chance.

He saw a proof of concept not an actual product. Qualcomm is trying to get investment for projects .

@Yas Same with the Switch's specs even when the Switch first came out!

@HotGoomba Except Qualcomm used to make hardware back in the mid to late 90s!

Well the Switch had no competition so the fact that competitions are jumping in on the hybrid gaming bandwagon is a good thing. Remember folks when there's competition then it's the customers who wins cause then we got a choice to enjoy gaming offerings from both sides, the Nintendo side and the non-Nintendo side. That way the industry isn't one sided.

@Yas Agreed LMFAO

I bet it won't suffer from drift either

@datamonkey I'm not sure why you think they're an advertising company... I've done a lot of research on them because I once considered adding them to my portfolio. They're a semiconductor company that markets their semiconductors to businesses for integration. They design chipsets and generally manufacture on demand through licensing agreements, which minimizes overhead and inventory on their part - placing the burden on individual companies like OnePlus and LG to move their product (5g chips, Snapdragon). Bulk of their profits are from licensing agreements like this. It's not a bad business model, but it doesn't create a network to market a new gaming tablet - let alone get enough developers on board to create demand.

Not saying it can't be done, but it's highly unlikely. They're lacking a lot of what made Microsoft successful with the original Xbox and are more likely to see it go the way of Stadia at this rate.

@JasmineDragon Yeah, they are. It's funny how tunes can change in the light of good fortunes

Yay, I get to play all the great Android games from Google play! (All right, I understand the point of this is emulation, but still...)

@Wilforce ah I was talking about google being an advertising company, not Qualcomm! Hehe

This is the second article where I read someone assuming nvidia shield died or did bad when in fact they make top teer android game systems and I should know I have owned all there iterations from the first nvidia clamshell to there tablets and now there tv box which allows pc gaming at 4k 60 fps so I don't get the attitude that they failed at all

@The_Mysteron No, you said the following after my initial and brief comment in response to your gif: "I don't know what qualifies you to say that, because you absolutely can send a cease and desist letter if you believe a competitor has copied your product design. 🤔". And that is what I responded to with a much longer post further clarifying my point and stance. So don't try to pretend like I just went off on a rant without any reason--YOU gave me a perfectly good reason to dive further down this rabbit hole.

Why even try?
But to be fair, for the sound of it, looks to have all things I wanted on a real switch (5g capability being one of it)

Cease and desist in 3-2-1...