What you need to know
- Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC.
- The chipset features an advanced AI engine and is the first mobile platform to feature Wi-Fi 7, doubling the Wi-Fi speeds of Wi-Fi 6.
- The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supports photos up to 200MP, 8K HDR video capture, and adds life-like graphics for gamers.
With Qualcomm's Summit 2022 underway in Hawaii, we're finally getting ourselves a good look at the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform. Qualcomm's new chip, which is said to redefine the standard among mobile devices, plants itself firmly on the ground with its latest innovations in its AI technology.
Qualcomm states that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 features its most advanced AI engine with performance that's around 4.35x faster. This chipset is Qualcomm's first to have INT4 precision support for 60% better performance.
This brand-new engine also allows users to engage in multi-language translation and transcription while also capturing premium content using its AI Cinematic video. The Qualcomm Sensing Hub now features dual-AI processing for the very first time, which gives users the ability to use direct-to-app voice assistance to control their apps.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip looks to push photo quality to the highest degree with its very first Cognitive ISP, which enhances images and video in real time. Using Semantic Segmentation, the ISP recognizes and optimizes everything focused in the frame, from faces to hair and clothes.
With everything added to the new chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can capture photos up to 200MP, which makes it perfect for devices outfitted with Samsung's new ISOCELL HP3 sensor, which we expect to find in more devices like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. It's also the first Snapdragon chip with AV1 codec support for added efficiency when playing back 8K HDR videos at 60fps.
For those who game hard on their phones, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 features several improvements in that regard. The new chip contains features that bring in life-like lighting, shadow, and illumination effects to your games. Qualcomm's new mobile platform utilizes real-time Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing with support for Unreal Engine 5.
This is also the first mobile platform to support Vulkan 1.3 APIs, and the new Adreno GPU delivers up to 25% faster performance with 45% improved battery efficiency for more gaming. The Kryo CPU featured in the new SoC improves performance by around 35% and also seeks to improve battery efficiency by around 40%.
As we look at sharper, vibrant screens, the new mobile platform supports 4K at 60Hz and QHD+ displays at 144Hz.
But you can't enjoy the latest and greatest games and music without a bolstered sound base to lean on. Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound technology now features spatial audio along with head tracking for total sound immersion. To ensure gamers are always a cut above the competition, the new chip features ultra-low latency (<48ms) Bluetooth streaming.
Qualcomm has incorporated the Snapdragon X70 5G modem into its latest chip. This marks the new SoC as the first mobile platform with its own dedicated 5G AI processor.
The new chipset is also the first to offer Wi-Fi 7 with Wi-Fi speeds that are more than double of Wi-Fi 6 and accompanied by its advanced High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link. Users should see peak speeds using Wi-Fi 7 at around 5.8Gbps.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 hasn't forgotten about your security and privacy. This new chipset provides the latest in cryptography, isolation, and key management. With users opting to use Face Unlock more, the new SoC has improved its security system in that area while also including a liveness detector for added safety.
"We are passionate about enabling people to do more, so we design Snapdragon with the user at the center. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, will revolutionize the landscape of flagship smartphones in 2023," said Chris Patrick, Qualcomm's senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets. "Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 delivers groundbreaking AI, unparalleled connectivity, and champion-level gameplay, enabling consumers to enhance every experience on their most trusted device."
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is built on a 4nm process with a Cortex-X3 prime core clocked at 3.2GHz, four performance cores at 2.8GHz, and three efficiency cores at 2GHz.
Qualcomm states the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be welcomed by global OEMs and brands like ASUS, HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, Redmi, SHARP, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE, and more. The first devices are expected to arrive before the end of 2022.
