Qualcomm is moving to redefine the relationship between the user and applications, with the expansion of what it calls agent computing, so that the user no longer has to move between multiple services to accomplish a single task, but rather determines the desired result and the artificial intelligence agent carries out the steps through various applications and tools.
This trend emerged during the “Snapdragon Summit 2026” conference on the island of Maui in the US state of Hawaii, which Asharq Al-Awsat attended, through a group of presentations and platforms that combined phones, computers, glasses and headphones, in an attempt to transfer artificial intelligence from the role of an assistant that answers questions to a system capable of completing tasks from beginning to end.
In one example presented during the summit, the task of organizing dinner with a friend was transformed from a series that required searching for a restaurant, reading reviews, checking the weather, making a reservation, sending an invitation, and setting a departure time, to a single request that the agent turned into an integrated workflow, across several services.
This shift does not mean that applications will technically disappear, but rather that their position in the user experience may change. Instead of being the starting point, they can become services that the agent calls in the background as needed while the user handles a single goal or request.
In the presentation of the “Snapdragon Start” platform, “Qualcomm” said that artificial intelligence agents can break down the task into smaller elements, and then use several applications to complete it, which is a model that differs from traditional assistants that usually only provide an answer or suggestion.
The importance of this transition lies in the fact that artificial intelligence becomes not just an additional layer on top of applications, but rather a coordination layer between them. In this model, the user may not need to know which service performed each step, as long as the task was accomplished in the way he requested. But the real difference appears when the agent moves from suggestion to implementation.
During the summit, Qualcomm and MasterCard presented a presentation that attempted to transfer this idea into an integrated commercial scenario. In the experience, the user wears extended reality glasses connected to a smartphone, and the glasses provide an interface for viewing the surrounding environment, while the phone supports the personal agent and broader workflow. When a user expresses interest in a business opportunity or experience, the agent combines the available context with their preferences, before presenting a suitable option and requesting their approval.
After determining the intention and obtaining approval, the agent coordinates the rest of the steps, while MasterCard provides the necessary trade and payment services to complete the transaction, so that the result ultimately returns to the glasses or phone. Qualcomm describes the experience as a transition from merely discovering and recommending options to performing a specific action on behalf of the user, within pre-agreed limits.
This experience adds a practical dimension to the question of the future of applications. Services have not disappeared; There are still entities that provide commerce, payment, information, etc., but the user no longer has to manually move between them to complete the process. Qualcomm says that one of the main differences in this model is that the user does not need to re-state his preferences, move between applications, or perform each step himself, because the agent carries the context with him and performs specific actions after obtaining the required permission.
This does not mean that an agent can work alone. Even the most sophisticated agents need an ecosystem of specialized services to accomplish real-world tasks. Qualcomm points out that one party does not need to own the entire system; The device can provide local intelligence, security and personal context, while partners provide specialized services, such as commerce, payment, content or booking. The role of the agent thus becomes more of a coordination layer that links user intent and these services, rather than replacing them. This provides a more accurate explanation of what might happen to applications in the age of agents. It does not disappear, but may gradually move from being an interface intended by the user to a structure that runs in the background and is called upon when needed.
This trend extends to headphones, which Qualcomm is trying to transform from a mere phone accessory into a device capable of directly running artificial intelligence services and agents. With the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform, applications and services for translation, assistance, and agents can be run on the audio device itself, with the ability to connect directly to cloud services via Wi-Fi, without the phone being a permanent intermediary. The company says that the platform provides support for the “Snapdragon Sound Apps & Agents” system, in addition to capabilities for local artificial intelligence and direct connection to the cloud.
During a session with journalists, the product manager explained that one of the presentations used an application that relied on “ChatGPT” services, while another presentation provided live translation, in addition to an experience that relied on more than one agent. He added that applications can connect directly to the cloud or use the phone, depending on the nature of the task.
In one of the presentations, the phone was not required during operation, as the application was present on the speaker and connected to the server directly via Wi-Fi and a secure link, which expands the concept of the application from an interface that opens on the screen to a service that can run in the background on a device that does not have a screen at all.
But Qualcomm does not present the AI agent as necessarily a single entity that knows everything about the user. One of the presentations featured an agent designated for work and another for personal life, and neither of them could view or interpret the other's data. A company official explained during the presentation session that the user needs to deal with the appropriate agent, because each of them has a separate scope of information and powers.
This model reflects an orientation toward specialization where several agents may work in parallel depending on the task or context. One agent may handle mailing, calendaring, and professional tasks, while another works with personal services. At the same time, these agents need enough context to continue the task across multiple steps without forcing the user to re-explain their goal at each transition. Here a fundamental challenge arises: achieving continuity without expanding powers beyond what each agent needs.
The shift is more apparent on computers; More memory, computing power, and thermal space are available, allowing models and agents to run for longer periods. In the summit's keynote speech, Qualcomm described the computer as a candidate to be a "focal node" within a distributed intelligence architecture, because it can run larger models locally and perform ongoing tasks without having to return to the cloud with every step. The company presented examples of partners using Snapdragon computers to carry out multi-stage tasks, including AnythingLLM, in addition to companies building tools that direct tasks between different models depending on their complexity, or using artificial intelligence for continuous copying, monitoring and analysis. What these applications have in common is that the goal is no longer just to create an additional chat window, but rather to give the system the ability to manage a task that continues over time and uses more than one form or tool.
This trend takes another form with “Googlebook,” the new category of laptops that runs on the “Snapdragon X Elite” platform and is designed around “Gemini Intelligence.”
Announced functionality includes tools like Magic Pointer, Rambler, and Cast my Apps, which leverage mail, calendar, on-screen content, and phone integration to show information or perform steps from within the workflow itself. Google and Qualcomm present this experience as a model of more proactive intelligence, in which the user does not always need to open a separate assistant and then manually transfer the result to the application he is working on. Here, AI becomes less visible as a separate program, but more present within the workflow itself.
Wearables push the idea a step further because they eliminate the need for a screen in the first place. In the presentation of the “Snapdragon Start” platform, a Qualcomm official summarized the experience as saying that it does not require a screen to open or an application or menus to move between, but rather a natural conversation with the assistant.
This voice interface allows tasks to be performed in situations where using a screen is less convenient, such as walking, working with two hands, or some mobility scenarios. But company officials also indicated that the phone will remain the most appropriate interface in some cases, and that the choice of method varies depending on the type of task and device. This is consistent with the broader vision presented by Qualcomm for personal intelligence. It is not assumed that one device will replace the rest of the devices, but rather that tasks move between them according to the capabilities of each one.
As tasks become longer and agents rely on a persistent context and run multiple processes simultaneously, processor and memory requirements also change. Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 platforms are designed to support agentive artificial intelligence loads, with capabilities to understand context across devices and learn and adapt over time. According to the company, the highest category supports “Mixture of Experts” models with more than 30 billion parameters, in addition to 50 percent more shared memory. These changes reflect an attempt to make the processor capable of dealing with a background agent that carries persistent context and calls more than one tool, rather than being limited to running a form when asked a single question.
But the greater the agent's ability to implement, the more important the limits imposed on him become. In the experience of Qualcomm and MasterCard, the agent was not completely independent. It is the user who indicates his interest, reviews the proposed option, and provides the necessary approval and restrictions before the system moves on to complete the transaction.
Qualcomm uses the concept of “limited proactiveness” to describe this balance, meaning that the agent is able to discover the appropriate moment to assist, but within limits determined by the user, while remaining a party to decisions that require approval or financial commitment. This adds an important dimension to the discussion about applications. The shift is not just from an application to an agent, but from a series of manual commands to conditional authorization: the user does not carry out every step, but he does not necessarily give up the final decision.
The presentations presented by Qualcomm do not indicate the disappearance of applications, but rather to a change in their position in the user experience. The application may still exist with its services and programming interfaces, but the user will not always need to open it or navigate within it himself, because the agent can call it within a broader workflow. This is evident in the models that the company presented for glasses, computers, and headphones, and in the experience of trading with “MasterCard.” Multiple services have become part of a single task that begins with a request or intention and ends with a result, while many steps take place in the background.
In this sense, the application gradually moves from being a destination for the user to a component used by the artificial intelligence system when needed.
Qualcomm describes this shift in commerce as a transition from an experience led by searches to an experience led by intent and mediated by the agent, with the possibility of the user interface being a phone, glasses, computer, or car, while the basic task remains the same: understanding what the user wants and then carrying out the required work in a secure manner.
If this model expands, the biggest shift will not be in the disappearance of applications, but in the decline in the need to deal with them directly. The user defines the desired outcome, while the agent layer coordinates the applications, models, and services that lead to it. Then the question will move from “Which application should I open?” To a more fundamental question: How does an agent decide which service to use, and what limits does the user place on what they can do on their behalf?
