Qualcomm Cancels the Snapdragon Dev Kit Single-Board Computer, Blames Its "Standards of Excellence"

Qualcomm has canceled its delayed Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows, a high-performance single-board computer designed to showcase the on-device artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of the Snapdragon X Elite system-on-chip — with all buyers to receive full refunds in place of their products.

"At Qualcomm, we are dedicated to pioneering leading technology and delivering premium experiences to our valued customers. The launch of 30+ Snapdragon X-series powered PCs is a testament to our ability to deliver leading technology and the PC industry's desire to move to our next-generation technology," the company claims in a statement brought to our attention by XDA Developers. "However, the Developer Kit product comprehensively has not met our usual standards of excellence and so we are reaching out to let you know that unfortunately we have made the decision to pause this product and the support of it, indefinitely."

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows back in May, promising a compact low-power single-board computer that could serve as a platform for developers looking to experiment with the on-device AI capabilities of the Snapdragon X Elite — the first, but no longer the only, platform to be certified as compatible with Microsoft's Copilot+ AI system for Windows 11. "This system gives developers access to our powerful Qualcomm Oryon CPU and 45 TOPS [Tera-Operations Per Second] NPU [Neural Processing Unit], so they can build the AI apps of the future," the company promised at the time.

The expected June delivery date came and went, however, and while a small number of devices have trickled out to the earliest of pre-order customers they'll be the last: Qualcomm has officially canned the device, ceasing production, shipping, and all support. Those lucky few who have already received hardware can keep it, the company promises, and will receive a refund; those who have yet to get their hands on the hardware will simply be refunded.

For developers still looking to work with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips, the company offers two options: a number of Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops are already available at retail with compact PCs to follow in due course, while the company offers a cloud platform to provide developers with access to the Snapdragon X platform from any device.