Qualcomm’s first flagship-class processor following the company’s new naming scheme is also the company’s first ARMv9 chip manufactured on a 4nm process.
The company says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip will deliver up to 20% faster CPU performance and a 30% improvement in efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 888, while its new GPU will deliver 30% better graphics performance and 25% better efficiency.
The processor features 8 CPU cores, including:
- 1 x Cortex-X2 @ 3 GHz
- 3 x Cortex-A810 @ 2.5 GHz
- 4 x Cortex-A510 @ 1.8 GHz
It also packs a next-gen Adreno GPU, next-gen Hexagon DSP, and a triple 18-bit Spectra ISP with support for camera resolutions up to 200MP (or up to three 36MP cameras).
There’s also support for 8K HDR video capture at 30 frames per second, or 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.
There’s also a new separate image signal processor that enables an “always-on” camera that can run constantly while consuming very little power. This can be used, for example, to automatically lock your device when your face isn’t looking at your phone.
Qualcomm has also updated the modem to a Snapdragon X65 integrated 5G modem with theoretical download speeds up to 10,000 Mbps.
The company is also promising big improvements in AI performance for tasks including photography and natural language processing.
You can find more technical details in Qualcomm’s product brief for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Or check out Anandtech’s coverage for some in-depth analysis.
Always-on camera. Big nope
Good luck with Samsung’s 4nm process… power efficiency appears to be equal to TSMC’s 7nm++. Die will be smaller on Samsung’s node, but battery life and peak performance are going to be significantly lower compared to Apple and Mediatek.
I would not pay a premium for this silicon.
really? why did you bother here?