Qualcomm recently confirmed that its next-generation Snapdragon 835 chipset has entered production. The company said that the chipset would power smartphones and augmented reality devices, which are expected to hit the market within the first half of the year.

While improvements in terms of performance is a standard expectation for most new generation hardware, what draws the attention towards the Snapdragon 835 is its power efficiency, according to PC World. One of the biggest factors in choosing mobile devices and smartphones is battery life, and Qualcomm promises that its upcoming chipset will significantly improve battery life.

In terms of compute performance, Qualcomm is positive that the Snapdragon 835 will be at the heart of major VR headsets that rely on smartphones like the Google Daydream View and the Samsung Gear VR. Qualcomm also said that the Snapdragon 835 has a wide array of application ranging from smartphones to personal computers.

In a statement acquired by CNet, Qualcomm senior vice president of product management Keith Kressin said, "Everyone wants their phone to have a greater degree of contextual awareness and at a lower power. Relative to our previous generation, 835 is better in every aspect."

Qualcomm's business is not limited to providing chipsets. While its high-end chips are powering some of the most advanced smartphones from companies like LG and Samsung, tech giant Apple is also using Qualcomm LTE chips for some of its iPhone models.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 has an octa-core processor. Four of its cores are clocked at 2.4GHz, while the other four are running at 1.9GHz. Qualcomm said that the company focused on five areas while developing the Snapdragon 835. These areas are battery life, camera quality, security, connectivity, and immersion.

Devices running on the new Snapdragon 835 chipsets are expected to make their debut at the Mobile World Congress trade fair next month.