Qualcomm may have only released its latest flagship Android chipset in October, but attention quickly shifted to the next generation.
As good as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is, we have high hopes for its successor, which we suspect will be known as Snapdragon 8 Gen.
And there are already plenty of rumors of upgrades, including a move to TSMC’s 3nm process and brand new performance cores.
Here’s everything you need to know.
When will Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 launch?
Qualcomm tends to release a new flagship chipset every year, so it’s very likely that 8 Gen 4 is coming before the end of 2024.
As for a more specific date, leaker Digital Chat Station posted on Chinese social media site Weibo that its mass production is planned for September 2024.
This would be sooner than in recent years, although Qualcomm appears to have adopted an approximate 11-month release cycle:
If the September launch month is true, it would be the earliest in a calendar year that the Snapdragon Summit has taken place – assuming Qualcomm continues its launch events in Hawaii.
Of course, it will take some time for phones with the new chipset to actually become available. Expect to see some high-profile launches within 1-2 months of the announcement, although Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series flagships will likely be the first big hits.
Which phones will use Snapdragon 8 Gen 4?
Of course, no phone has been confirmed to use Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. But the current 8 Gen 3 phones offer plenty of clues.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (plus the S24 and S24+ outside Europe), the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro and the OnePlus 12 were among the first to adopt it, so it’s likely that the next generations will upgrade to the new Qualcomm chip .
However, almost any flagship smartphone not made by Apple or Google could be eligible. Look for successors to the Xiaomi 14, Honor Magic 6, Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, Oppo Find X7 UItra, and Asus Zenfone 11 series, although this is by no means an exhaustive list.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 will likely launch too soon, while the OnePlus Open 2 will depend on how much time the company wants to leave between generations.
What will the specifications and features of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 be?
We don’t really know what to expect in the 8 Gen 4 chipset, but with a few leaks, we think we have a pretty good understanding of a few key aspects.
TSMC’s 3nm process
Last year, only Apple launched a 3nm chipset family using TSMC’s latest 3nm “N3B” node.
Unfortunately, for cost reasons, companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek had to wait another year before using the “N3E” process, another version of the old 3nm technology. However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300 were still powerful despite being made on TSMC’s 4nm N4P technology.
However, according to X leak Revegnus and Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station, Qualcomm will once again rely solely on TSMC to manufacture the 3nm-based “Sun” chipset this year.
The move to TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process should allow Qualcomm to maintain high performance while using less power. It might also slightly increase the power limits for better multi-core performance, but not too much.
Just like on the Galaxy S24 series, it looks like there will be another overclocked “for Galaxy” version of the chipset exclusively for Samsung phones.
Oryon/Phoenix processor cores
A better manufacturing process isn’t the only thing that affects a chip’s performance and power consumption. Cus tom processor designs also play an important role.
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Qualcomm will likely abandon current ARM designs for its own cores called Oryon or Phoenix. These will have a different configuration than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, perhaps without any efficiency core.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will likely have a “2+6” CPU layout instead of the “1+3+4” in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. This means that all cores will be performance cores, which could result in a nice multi-core performance improvement.
While this may result in a higher power demand, this should be offset by a move to the 3nm node, and the chip should therefore be more power efficient overall.
Qualcomm is also rumored to be testing the new chip at 4.00 GHz, much faster than 8 Gen 3.
This should improve single-core and multithreaded performance. The first benchmarks show it performs significantly better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and even rivals Apple’s M3 chip:
New Adreno GPU
Rumors suggest Qualcomm will introduce the Adreno 830 GPU in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. We don’t have detailed specs yet, but X leaker Revegnus suggests it could be faster than Apple’s best M2 GPU in some tests .
This makes us curious about its graphics performance, especially after seeing the 8 Gen 3 outperform Apple’s M2 in a benchmark.
In a multi-core test, Chinese technology site TechNews reports that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 achieves over 10,000 points on Geekbench 6, while the Adreno 830 GPU maintains similar power consumption to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but offers significant performance improvements. It is assumed that the entire chipset consumes only 8 W of power.
But there’s fierce competition ahead, with MediaTek readying its Dimensity 9400 and Apple expected to launch the A18 and A18 Pro chips for the upcoming iPhone 16 lineup. This is shaping up to be an exciting battle of 3nm smartphone chips in 2024.
If you need to buy a phone now, take a look at our current selection of the best smartphones, as well as the best phones coming in 2024. There’s a small chance that some of these will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
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