Qualcomm has a new idea that could theoretically drive down the cost of future flagship phones. To make it happen, they must be prepared to give up 5G.

Many of Qualcomm's chips, especially the flagship 8 series, already come standard with 5G connectivity. That may change this year, however, as the Snapdragon 888 may begin offering a non-5G version.

This is according to WinFuture's Roland Quandt, who reports that Qualcomm is developing a low-end version of the Snapdragon 888 chipset. This chipset does not include the integrated 5G modem found in the existing Snapdragon 888 chip.

The new SM8325 has the same processing power as the standard Snapdragon 888 chip, just without the 5G. This is an odd decision given Qualcomm's push for 5G adoption over the past few years. Today, 5G can be built into the 6 series chips designed for inexpensive mid-range handsets.

However, giving handset makers the option to discontinue 5G could theoretically make some flagship handsets cheaper.

No matter how much the cellular industry wants to hype 5G, there are still plenty of areas with zero coverage; 5G phones are useless to people living in such places, and the prospect of saving a few dollars by sticking with 4G may be rather attractive.

Of course, this depends on whether phone companies will actually take advantage of Qualcomm's feature-focused chipsets. This is because some companies may not want to devote the time and resources to producing another version that can only be distinguished by its lack of a 5G modem. After all, 5G phones still function perfectly well on 4G networks.

However, the modem-less Snapdragon 888 may have uses beyond smartphones; Slashgear notes that the chip could be used in ARM-based laptops, even if Qualcomm already has a dedicated compute platform Slashgear notes that even if Qualcomm already has a dedicated compute platform, the chip could be used in ARM-based laptops.

For manufacturers, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a 5.7% decline in smartphone sales throughout 2020. In addition to the economic impact, the high prices of some flagship smartphones made it difficult for users to upgrade. That's why the latest Samsung Galaxy S21 line saw a dramatic price cut in 2021. Snapdragon appears to be making a modem-less 888 processor to meet the demands of manufacturers who want to cut costs.