Qualcomm’s Savi Soin on “Made for India” Products, Strategy, and Enhancing User Experience

Qualcomm has been making strides in India to drive digital connectivity whereas specializing in growth and launching new platforms to cater to extra prospects. Among the marquee bulletins from Qualcomm India in the previous few months have been saying the brand new design centre in Tamil Nadu final 12 months and different initiatives to assist the wi-fi ecosystem in India, together with college grants (for instance, the 6G College Analysis Program), awards, fellowships in addition to assist for startups by way of programmes like Qualcomm Design in India Problem. Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 System-on-Chip (SoC) makes a 5G cellphone out there for beneath Rs. 10,000 with companions like Xiaomi, which launched Redmi A4 5G final 12 months. Qualcomm additionally pushed the envelope for AI PCs with the launch of the Snapdragon X platform within the earlier 12 months. The most important spotlight of the platform has been on-device AI capabilities, which Qualcomm showcased at its India launch final week. 

The corporate’s effort, which I can say has been nothing in need of a Qualcomm 2.0 technique beneath Savi Soin, Senior Vice President and President of Qualcomm India, the place the model is specializing in the Indian market from nearly each side. On the sidelines of MWC 2025 in Barcelona, Devices 360 acquired to meet up with Soin to speak concerning the many bulletins Qualcomm India has made in the previous few months. 

We first needed to grasp the brand new technique main the expansion, the staff dimension Qualcomm India at present has, and whether or not the corporate plans so as to add extra centres or engineers. 

Soin began with groups at Qualcomm, saying, “We’ve got quite a lot of new staff members, quite a lot of new power. My function was to come back in and actually showcase what Qualcomm globally is doing. After which, I had the complete Qualcomm India staff proper behind us to assist. And, , these are wonderful innovators and engineers sitting in numerous places round India.”

He mentioned, “My technique was three-fold, so the primary is like Snapdragon for India. Get merchandise which are “Made for India” available in the market with regards to both fastened wi-fi, automotive, or two-wheeler. Let’s get merchandise that which are significant for Indian prospects. We needed to make sure that we had Snapdragon for India, and also you see quite a lot of occasions beneath that very same staff. Proper then, the opposite factor was to showcase with Snapdragon in India. What are we doing? Final 12 months, we introduced our Chennai Design Centre, which specialises in wi-fi connectivity options and primarily focuses on improvements that complement Wi-Fi applied sciences.”

Snapdragon 8 Elite Smartphones Showcased at MWC 2025

On Qualcomm’s new workplace in New Delhi and different missions, he mentioned, “We’ve got an enormous workplace now. So we’re doing quite a lot of work. Past that, we’re collaborating in India within the semiconductor mission AI mission, and actually, we’re collaborating to see what we are able to do to assist extra beneath “Make in India” as properly. Our second technique is to have mentorships run on semiconductors and ladies entrepreneurs. We’ve got many various initiatives intently tied to who we’re as an organization and what we are able to ship to the neighborhood and the nation at massive. And lastly, the third one is to co-drive the ecosystem. Working with builders, as some wonderful LLMs are coming in.”

Soin additionally talked about how Qualcomm desires to create a associate ecosystem that takes benefit of the tech. In regards to the 12 months 2024, he mentioned, “And it has been, it has been actually good to type of execute on it in 2024, and I believe, like I preserve saying, We’re simply getting began.”

Qualcomm has had a longstanding presence in India, even earlier than it turned a development. A first-rate instance is your R&D facilities in Hyderabad and Bangalore, which celebrated their twentieth anniversary final 12 months. How essential has it been to maintain these R&D centres native and develop merchandise that cater to native calls for? Soin added, “You already know, I believe that our groups are doing properly. They’re trying to customise the use instances for the Indian market. It may very well be an ADAS expertise proper on our flex platform. What’s the requirement for the Indian market? You and I do know it’s distinctive. You possibly can have a cow, you’ll be able to have a cycle, you’ll be able to have a wall. Yeah, there are such a lot of various things that one has to consider when writing a few of these algorithms. It is not there in Germany, neither is it in another nation on this planet. So, I believe these and the R&D groups that we now have are doing a tremendous job working with native companions, showcasing our tech, and implementing industrial deployments. So we’re very enthusiastic about what we are literally doing with the engineering staff we now have. Final 12 months, we opened up a bigger facility in Chennai. So meaning we’re clearly trying to develop the place we want extra innovators selectively. I believe the wonderful engineers we now have at Qualcomm, particularly in India, are excellent.”

Soin additionally talked about new initiatives Qualcomm is taking, like new experience zones. “I want I may convey a automotive to a Chroma retailer. However you go to the Chroma Juhu retailer, proper the place you’ll be able to the place you’ll be able to expertise the cellphone, the PC, the Sensible Glasses, and really quickly, the hearables and wearables – all powered by Qualcomm, and I am going to quite a lot of these prospects. And, , I let you know, in just a few conferences I went to, the purchasers nearly needed to speak to me about how I can enhance the consumer expertise of utilizing a cellphone within the automotive. They wish to discuss how one can assist me with the expertise of any person with good glasses coming into a automotive – they’re all about how we convey a cross-platform expertise,” he mentioned.

Referring to the Snapdragon X collection announcement final week in India, Soin mentioned, “We will make your PC and the way it communicates to a cellphone extra seamless. How your cellphone communicates with the router, how the glasses you employ with among the wi-fi networking merchandise, we now have to dump a few of that computation onto a route so you’ll be able to see quite a lot of totally different Snapdragon Dragon-enabled merchandise which are type of that premium expertise.”

Briefly touching upon the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 SoC, Qualcomm believes it should assist convert non-5G customers to a 5G smartphone. Soin mentioned, “See, that is the place we’re competing in India very successfully. India goes premiumisation, however nonetheless, , the common ASP remains to be decrease than the US and Japan, however nonetheless, like, it is wonderful, , to say, hey, we are able to convey you that very same expertise. You do not have to go purchase a really costly cellphone. And that is what we’re all attempting to do, is make it inexpensive to all.”

Qualcomm’s Dragonwing is a brand new model portfolio that can cater to companies

Qualcomm introduced Dragonwing, the brand new B2B answer designed to make sure a secure work surroundings and enhance high quality. Are you able to inform me extra about this new Dragonwing providing? “We offer the underlying know-how. However quite a lot of the use instances are for drones, whether or not it is for protection or for industrial functions. If there’s an emergency, within the US, there is a 911 emergency name. Then, , first, , a few of these, the firefighters in addition to police, ship a drone for us to say, what do you what is going on on? Test it out on the bottom. You already know, you may get fast. So I believe, look, I do not suppose a drone is a drone that one dimension suits all.” 

He added, “I believe there will be quite a lot of IoT generally. Every IoT, like the place we name an edge field. That does inferences. It will probably do inferences for facial detection, for employee security, for lots of various for like scrap. You already know, some folks use it of their factories to make scrap. Some folks wish to, once you convey your automotive into the service centre, they need the digicam to select it up. You understand how any person walks across the automotive and says, Okay, there is a dent right here, you’ll be able to rapidly take an image to determine the dents in a single go, that is how tech will help. So the expertise turns into loads higher. So, for every of those digicam edge containers with AI, all the things is customized. You already know, it is now coming all the way down to, , what are the use instances that you really want? So the client is strictly proper? So, we’re excited that we are able to customise the use case. And we’re wanting ahead to it.”

Lastly, when requested concerning the huge Snapdragon X platform launch and the way the response from OEMs has been, Soin mentioned, “So look, manufacturers are coming to us due to the shape issue. You possibly can examine the sales space right here at MWC 2025, which has so many Snapdragon X-powered laptops. I imply, it is fairly cool due to the shape issue. I imply, it has wonderful battery life. And we’re offering the expertise. Among the use instances that we’re exhibiting, , for India, are excellent. Persons are already used to them on a cellphone powered by Snapdragon—for instance, noise cancellation on calls on Snapdragon X-powered laptops. I believe we confirmed a demo, a video proper on the X launch, proper, the place any person sits in a subway or railway station in a really noisy surroundings the place they make an announcement each few seconds. You need to use options like transcription, proper for a gathering, and stay translation. Till now, all of this has not been doable on a tool the place you aren’t related. However, with Snapdragon X laptops, you do not want connectivity. Options like these work completely on-device.”