On Wednesday, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as its new 5G mobile platform for next-generation flagship Android phones at the annual Snapdragon Tech Summit. The chip is the first to feature the new Snapdragon branding, which was introduced after Qualcomm’s 17 Snapdragon 800-series system-on-chip (SoC) models were released. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is said to have four times the performance of last year’s Snapdragon 888 SoC in terms of artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the world’s first 5G modem-RF solution capable of 10 Gigabit download speeds on a compatible network.
Specifications And Features
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will come with Qualcomm’s 7th Gen AI Engine, which is said to have two times the shared memory and a two-times faster tensor accelerator than the Snapdragon 888’s 6th Gen AI Engine, resulting in better per-watt performance. The new chip will also be manufactured using a 4nm process. This is an improvement over the Snapdragon 888’s 5nm process technology from last year.
The exact names of the Kryo CPU and Adreno GPU on Qualcomm’s new chip have yet to be revealed. The Kryo CPU, on the other hand, has Arm Cortex-X2 cores that can run at up to 3GHz. The CPU is said to be 20 percent faster and uses 30 percent less power than the Snapdragon 888’s counterpart. In comparison to its predecessor, the new Adreno GPU is expected to deliver a 30% increase in graphics rendering and a 25% reduction in power consumption.
It includes a Qualcomm Hexagon processor as part of the AI Engine for a better artificial intelligence (AI) experience. The chip also has Leica Leitz Look filters built-in for a better bokeh effect. Hugging Face, a machine learning community, has also developed AI-based natural language processing. By analyzing and prioritizing your notifications, it is claimed to enable a unique personal assistance experience.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has over 50 Snapdragon Elite Gaming features to help provide a smooth and responsive gaming experience, as well as color-rich HDR scenes. According to the company, a Variable Rate Shading Pro feature has been integrated to provide a desktop-level volumetric rendering for realistic fog, smoke, and particle effects.
A dedicated Trust Management Engine is also included in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for enhanced security. This is also said to provide the root of trust for all installed apps and services. In addition, the new Snapdragon chip supports the Android Ready SE standard, which allows users to use digital car keys and driver’s licenses.
The Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit with support for integrated SIM is built into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to help people connect to cellular networks without using a SIM card (iSIM).
Snapdragon Sight Technology, the first 18-bit image signal processor, is another notable addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. (ISP). At speeds of up to 3.2 gigapixels per second, this camera is said to capture over 4,000 times more camera data than its predecessor for high dynamic range, color, and sharpness. The new ISP also supports the premium HDR10+ format for 8K HDR video recording. A dedicated Bokeh Engine is also available for adding soft backgrounds to videos. There’s also an Always-on ISP, which allows for always-on face unlocking without draining the battery.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s other specifications and features are largely similar to those of its predecessor. Support for up to 4K and QHD+ displays with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz, LPDDR5 RAM with a frequency of up to 3200MHz and a density of up to 16GB, and Quick Charge 5 fast charging are among the features.
Qualcomm announced a partnership with Google Cloud to boost neural network development and build as well as optimize AI models at the Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021, alongside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Qualcomm Neural Processing SDK will be able to integrate Google Cloud Vertex AI NAS as a result of the collaboration.
The new experience will debut on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 first, before being rolled out across Qualcomm’s portfolio. As a result of its partnership with Google, Qualcomm said that its Snapdragon mobile, ACPC and XR, Snapdragon Ride Platform, and IoT platforms will be able to use Google Cloud Vertex AI Neural Architecture Search with the Qualcomm AI Engine.
Availability Timeline
Qualcomm reports that many global smartphone vendors will use Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in phones such as Black Shark, Honor, iQoo, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, Realme, Redmi, Sharp, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE. The company estimates that phones based on the new chip will be available by the end of 2021.
