If you’ve always wanted a smartphone from Qualcomm itself, you can get one now. Developed in collaboration with Asus, the “Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders” is sold directly to members of the Snapdragon Insider fan community…for a cool $1,500 – that’s about RM6,280.

Despite its steep price tag, the Qualcomm-branded phone is just your standard flagship smartphone. On top of that, it only features a Snapdragon 888 chipset instead of the newer Snapdragon 888+ SoC, which offers faster CPU and AI Engine.

But to Qualcomm’s credit, this is one of the first Android phones to feature the new Snapdragon Sound classification; it promises high fidelity music playback at up to 24-bit 96kHz. The company is even bundling a pair of “premium” Master & Dynamic wireless earbuds with a charging case to take advantage of this feature.

Other specifications of the Qualcomm-branded phone include a 6.78-inch 1080p Samsung AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of internal storage, a triple camera system (64MP primary + 12MP ultra-wide angle + 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom), a 24MP selfie camera, as well as a 4,000mAh battery with support for 65W fast charging.

Qualcomm’s Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will be available sometime in August 2021. It will be sold through Asus, though it remains to be seen if it will also be offered locally here in Malaysia.