Qualcomm’s flagship 8-series chips remain the standard for the most premium Android phones, and despite renewed competition on various fronts, everything seems to indicate that in 2022 it will continue to dominate the peak performance crown.
The chip has a whole new name to accompany the new architecture, with an even smaller manufacturing process of just 4 nanometers, and a host of new camera functions coupled with artificial intelligence.
Here’s everything you need to know about Qualcomm 8 Gen 1, including its potential inside, when it will hit the market, and which phones will be the first to hit the market with the chip inside.
When will Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 appear on mobile phones?
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 announced at celebration event Snapdragon tech summit of this year which took place on November 30. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that the new series Xiaomi 12 will be the first to use the new chip.
For its part, Motorola also announced in the middle Weibo that your Moto Edge X30 will run on the new 8 Gen 1 chip, which could debut in China on December 9.
However, beyond being the first to announce a phone with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, most manufacturers are expected to embrace the new chip with a view to launching new terminals throughout. of the year 2022.
Which phones will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1?
In fact, it will be faster to list companies that won’t launch a phone with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, than those that actually do. Apple, of course; Google, which will continue its in-house Pixel 6 production line; and Huawei, limited by US trade taxes.
The rest of the mobile phone manufacturing companies that we all have in mind will most likely release a model with the new 8 Gen 1 chip in the next year 2022, if not sooner.
Series Xiaomi 12 It has already been confirmed, like Realme that it will do the same with its GT 2 Pro model. Also Motorola with its Edge line, as well as Oppo’s flagship iQoo and Find X4 Pro line.
The leaks that have emerged so far also come from tools like Geekbench, the performance-testing software that has already revealed that the 8 Gen 1 will be present in a Vivo phone and another Samsung mobile, which with great probability will be the Galaxy S22.
Other rumors circulating on the net speak of new models like the Redmi K50 Pro from Xiaomi, the ROG Phone 6 from Asus, as well as some powerful tablets like the future Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, without however planning any launch dates.
Why is it called 8 Gen 1?
Just a week before the chip’s announcement, Qualcomm unveiled a new branding for its Snapdragon line, which includes the removal of the three-digit naming system used so far, including the Snapdragon 888 of the year. last.
In this way, the Snapdragon chips will adopt a single digit serial and a generation number, which fires in the 8 Gen 1, which is similar to the name of the company with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 which could also be announced these days- this. the corporate event.
The change in leadership appears to be aimed at putting more emphasis on the ‘Snapdragon’ brand over the Qualcomm name, but there’s also a more practical reason: With the 888 released last year, Qualcomm was simply running out of steam. of numbers.
The company should have upgraded to the 9-series, or completely changed their structure, and the move gives them more leeway for the future, both in naming their flagship chips and for lower-tier models. .
What are the specifications of 8 Gen 1?
The biggest change this year is the 4nm manufacturing process performed at Samsung factories, as well as the use of the new Armv9 architecture. We will break it down in more detail each of the components.
CPU
The new Kyro processor, unnumbered this year, and probably already in the future, has a similar build to the last generation, but with improved specifications.
- 1x Cortex-X2 main core @ 2995 GHz
- 3 Cortex-A710 2.5 GHz performance cores
- 4 Cortex-A510 efficiency cores at 1.8 GHz
In terms of actual performance, Qualcomm claims it delivers up to 20% more power than the Snapdragon 888, combined with 30% improved fuel efficiency.
It’s also almost exactly the same build as MediaTek’s recently announced rival, the Dimensity 9000, although the Dimensity runs a bit faster, with its X2 running at 3.05 GHz and three performance cores at 2.85. GHz.
Before launch, Ice universe shared what he claims to be pretty final Geekbench 5 results for 8th Gen 1, with a single-core score of 1200 and a multi-core score of 3900.
It would be a little, if not a lot, faster than what we’ve seen on any 888 and 888+ device, but we’re still lagging behind Apple’s A15 Bionic.
LPDDR5 RAM is also supported, but not the new LPDDR5X standard released this year.
GPU
The new Adreno GPU is also not numbered, but it has performance improvements similar to those of the CPU. In this case, it is a rendering improved by up to 30% with 25% more energy efficiency.
Qualcomm says it can handle screens up to 144Hz refresh rate with QHD + resolution, an interesting counterpoint to rival MediaTek, which can reach 180Hz but only at lower FHD + resolution.
It also benefits from some new gaming-focused features like a new fps motion engine that can deliver up to twice the frame rate in some use cases, as well as new support for variable speed shader.
AI and machine learning
Qualcomm is always optimistic about its AI performance, and this year is no exception.
The seventh generation AI engine here includes updates like double the amount of shared memory and a faster tensor accelerator, supposedly delivering 4 times the overall performance of AI.
This enhanced power of AI will impact every phone, from natural language processing to virtual assistants, just about anything camera-related. More details below.
The sensor hub has a new trick – an additional image processor (ISP) that can be used for permanent purposes. Qualcomm’s first example is unlocking a phone using facial recognition without even touching it.
During the presentation, he also suggested that some security-related apps would make the most of it, like locking your device if it recognizes a face looking at your screen over your shoulder.
Cameras
Once again, Qualcomm has integrated a triple ISP, although it is now 18-bit and capable of processing up to 3.2 gigapixels per second.
In addition to the updated “AI engine”, which unlocks features like 8K HDR video recording, an engine bokeh for 4K video and support for four additional dynamic range stops.
Qualcomm has demonstrated through demonstrations its support for a new panoramic camera setup: unite the output of two overlapping camera lenses and sensors to produce a real-time 140-degree panoramic shot.
This means you can see that ultra wide angle shot in the viewfinder before taking the shot and avoid the edge distortion effects common to traditional ultra wide angle lenses.
Modem
At this point, it goes without saying that 8 Gen 1 supports 5G connectivity, handling mmWave and Sub-6 frequencies with speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
The built-in X65 modem can also deliver record 3.5Gbps download speeds by combining mmWave and Sub-6, although you are unlikely to achieve these speeds in real life conditions.
There is also support for Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, although strangely there is Bluetooth 5.2 instead of the newer 5.3 included in the rival MediaTek chip. Nonetheless, Qualcomm has included a world first in supporting lossless CD-quality audio over Bluetooth, called “the next era of Bluetooth audio.”
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