Now, Qualcomm has announced that it is canceling the developer kit, and will issue refunds to all buyers, including the lucky few that received one.
In what can only be described as an embarrassing PR disaster for Qualcomm, the highly anticipated $900 Snapdragon X Elite developer kit that was first announced on stage at Microsoft's Build 2024 conference earlier this year has been canned, just days after the first units began shipping to those who ordered one.
Qualcomm let customers know in an email:
"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."
Those who have placed an order will be getting a full refund, including the lucky few who actually received the developer kit. Qualcomm says those who received one do not need to return it for the refund. Unfortunately, any outstanding orders will be canceled meaning if you don't have one yet, you'll never get it now.
Originally, Qualcomm intended to launch the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit in June, with orders opening on the same day that Copilot+ PCs became available. However, that date came and went and Qualcomm failed put the developer kit on sale. It wasn't until a month later when pre-orders would finally go live on Arrow, with a shipping estimate of just a couple of weeks.
Those who did place an order quickly found out that the developer kit wouldn't be shipping in the estimated time. In fact, it wasn't clear when the developer kit would ship. Those who placed an order when pre-orders first opened in July were left in the dark, with no accurate ETA from either Qualcomm or Arrow.
Many developers who placed an order documented their frustration with the process. Some developers that have received the device have already reviewed the hardware -- Jeff Geerling called it a missed opportunity due to the hardware.
Over the summer, Qualcomm faced a number of issues around manufacturing the developer kit. The hardware was originally supposed to ship with a HDMI port, but this was removed at the very last minute. Additionally, it looks like Qualcomm failed to pass FCC regulation before units began shipping, and the few that did reach customers are labelled with a warning that says the device cannot be resold and is not FCC certified.
Ultimately, it appears building PC hardware isn't so easy, even for a chip maker like Qualcomm. Now, it will be up to OEMs to step in and fill the shoes of a developer kit, likely with mini PCs powered by Snapdragon X SoCs. Perhaps Microsoft will refresh its Windows Developer Kit 2023, which originally launched in 2022 with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3.
The cancelation of the Snapdragon X Elite developer kit means the very top-end X Elite SoC (the X1E-00-1DE) with a higher 4.3GHz boost frequency is no longer available, as the developer kit was the only hardware on the market with that chip. That will likely make these highly sought after.