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After years of getting used to looking for Qualcomm processors on Android devices under the cumbersome name that also included the Snapdragon series followed by 3 digits that testified to the processor model, Qualcomm decided to simplify its branding and introduce its chip to the next flagship devices – Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Separating from the old branding with a significant improvement in performance
The chip giant has unveiled its new chip that is set to hit the most powerful Android smartphones to hit the market in the coming year and is set to be the successor to Snapdragon 888 – and with it will also end Quaklum’s old numbering method for its chips.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will be Qualcomm’s first processor to reach the new arm chipset for smartphones, Armv9, which is expected to significantly improve performance and battery life. With the unveiling of the new architecture last May, arm claimed that the chips that will come with its new architecture are expected to show about 35% improvements in performance and about 20% in the energy utilization they need for the benefit of these performances. While Qualcomm aligns itself with this claim regarding an improvement in the chip’s energy utilization, they will ensure “only” a 30% improvement in performance compared to their previous model for flagship devices.
Qualcomm’s new chip will come with an eight-core CPU: a Cortex-X2 core of 3GHz, three cores responsible for the heavy performance of the Cortex-A710 2.5GHz device and four cores that will run the easier processes and save your battery life Cortex-A510 at 1.8GHz.
In the graphics processing segment, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will come with the Adreno graphics processor which is supposed to provide users who came from smartphones with 888 processors a 30% improvement in graphics rendering and a 25% improvement when it comes to the energy utilization of the device.
The next generation of Qualcomm chips will not only come with the latest arm architecture, and it has shrunk compared to its predecessor in the role – the Snapdragon 888 – which was a 5 nm chip, and will be the first chip for Qualcomm smartphones to 4 nm.
In terms of connectivity, the new chip will come with the X65 modem from Qualcomm, the fourth generation that supports 5G, which comes with mmWave support and 10Gbps neck-breaking speed – if you can find a 5G antenna that will let you reach such speed. The chip will also come with support for the next two generation standards of wireless internet – WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E – and for the first time supports voice streaming in the Bluetooth LE Audio standard, which will allow the connection of two different headphones, for example, to listen to music from one device.
Continuing to focus on photography
Qualcomm also says that its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 also shows a significant improvement in the photography segment – an area in which it often emphasizes the innovations when it comes to its chips. The new chip will come with Qualcomm’s image processing sensor – Spectra – which actually consists of three different sensors.
The chip giant claims that its chip enhancements will allow for more successful images in harsh lighting conditions – the chip will support shooting up to 30 images in a row to extract information for a better image, compared to only 6 in the previous generation – and processing much more information in each image. With Spectra – Qualcomm claims – users will be able to take up to 240 images at 12 MP per second or shoot video in 8K with HDR running with 64 MP images in the background, without it sweating.