Qualcomm revenue increased 11 percent to $9.39 billion for the second quarter, beating analyst expectations. Its core business, processor sales for smartphones and other mobile devices, was up 12 percent. Overall, profit was up by 26 percent year-over-year for the period ending in June. The period benefited from the launch of PC chips in the company’s Snapdragon X Series optimized for artificial intelligence. President and CEO Cristiano Amon called the move into PCs and laptops “a significant milestone in our transformation from a communications company to a leading intelligent computing company.”

Qualcomm has positioned its cutting edge chips — including the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that began shipping in Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and other high-end Android phones this year — as integral to AI-powered smartphones, some of which have generative functionality in photo editing and image creation.

“AI has expanded the size of the premium tier. Even in a market which is kind of flattish to low single digits in growth, the premium tier is actually growing faster,” Amon told analysts on an earnings call this week. Android Central attributed the bulk of the company’s earnings mostly to the 12 percent increase in handset revenue, which reached $5.89 billion for the quarter.

The company’s IoT unit includes what CNBC describes as “chips for lower-cost devices as well as Meta’s Quest headsets” and the new Snapdragon X Elite chip for the new Windows Copilot laptops and PCs that started shipping in June.

The $999 Microsoft Surface Laptop is currently the entry level to computers running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus chip, “with all the battery life benefits (and caveats) that might entail,” The Verge writes, noting that “in 2025, they’ll be cheaper — Qualcomm now says they’ll hit the $700 mark next year.”

TechCrunch reports that Qualcomm aims “to bring 5G to sub-$100 devices” with its new Snapdragon chips.

Qualcomm’s automotive sector also topped Wall Street predictions. Automotive chips, while still a small part of Qualcomm’s total revenue, is fast-growing (at +87 percent year-over-year to $811 million), with software and semiconductors for cars identified as an important growth area, according to CNBC.

The earnings report notes that Qualcomm’s licensing fees, from integration of its 5G and other cellular tech into products, was up 3 percent, to $1.3 billion.