The Snapdragon X development kit that we thought was pretty cool turned out so bad that Qualcomm cancelled it

We told you earlier this year about the launch Qualcomm's Snapdragon-X developer's kits. While the mini PC wasn't intended for home users we still wanted one to see what we could do to make an Arm-based gaming device. Qualcomm has decided that "this product and its support will be paused indefinitely," because it "completely failed to meet our usual standards of quality."

Ars Technica reported the news of the decision. Jeff Geerling is a software developer who had learned about the move through Jeff Geerling. Geerling picked up a dev kit in early October, but was not impressed. The sleek little box contains a Snapdragon X-Elite processor that is 100 MHz faster than the ones used in Copilot+ laptops.

Along with the 32 GB LPDDR5x memory and a 512GB SSD, it has a variety of connectivity options, including USB4, Wi-Fi 7, and an HDMI socket for connecting to a monitor. Geerling was surprised when he opened his sample to find a USB-to HDMI dongle instead.

Geerling found that Qualcomm had originally designed the system to have an HDMI port, complete with all the necessary circuitry, signal converter chips and other components, but changed its mind at the last minute on the production of dev kits. He also noticed that the label on his system clearly stated 'Evaluation Only; not FCC Approved for Resale'.

The general consensus seems to be that Qualcomm could not get the HDMI thing to work correctly to pass FCC requirements. Hence the stamp on the box and the dongle inside. It didn't speak well of Qualcomm's engineering.

It's a bit bizarre that Qualcomm chose to ship dev kits with Windows 11 Home, which does not include developer-favoured functions. You can upgrade the license, of course. But if you pay $900 for a device aimed solely at developers, it's only natural that the software is appropriate.

Qualcomm has refunded the full amount to anyone who purchased one, and has said that hardware does not need to be returned. The FCC stamp clearly states it cannot be resold, so those who already own one are in a difficult position.

This means that if your goal is to develop an application or a game for a Snapdragon X Windows laptop, you will need to purchase a Copilot+. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series is aimed at reducing AMD and Intel's share in the laptop processor market. Not supporting developers will not help this situation.

It may give Nvidia or MediaTek the chance to steal the Arm-based laptop market right under Qualcomm's nose.