What you need to know
- Qualcomm is turning Snapdragon into a cross-category technology brand.
- It is also coming up with a new "simplified" naming structure for its platforms.
- Snapdragon mobile platforms will transition to a single-digit series and generation number, starting with Qualcomm's next flagship Snapdragon 8-series chip.
Earlier this month, Qualcomm revealed that its Snapdragon Tech Summit will kick off on November 30. Just a week before the event, the company has now announced that it is changing the naming scheme of its Snapdragon mobile platforms.
Qualcomm believes that the new simplified naming scheme will "make it easier" for consumers to discover and choose Snapdragon-powered devices. Its mobile platforms will transition to a single-digit series and generation number starting with its next flagship 8-series platform. Until now, the chip was rumored to be called the Snapdragon 898.
The next-gen chipset will succeed the Snapdragon 888, which powers nearly all the best Android phones on sale right now. It is rumored to feature a Cortex-X2 prime core clocked at 3.0 GHz, three Cortex-A710 cores running at 2.5GHz, and four efficiency-oriented Cortex-A510 cores at 1.79GHz.
The SoC is also tipped to include an Adreno 730 GPU, which could bring significantly faster graphics performance compared to the Adreno 660 inside its predecessor. It will apparently be built on Samsung's 4nm manufacturing process, which should translate to around 20% improvement in overall performance.
While most phones powered by the chipset will only be announced next year, the first phone featuring the chipset could be unveiled as soon as next month. A recent leak suggested that the Xiaomi 12 will be powered by Qualcomm's next flagship mobile chipset and is likely to debut in China sometime before the end of the year. Motorola too is rumored to be planning to announce a flagship phone powered by the same chip "soon."
The chipmaker is also separating the Qualcomm and Snapdragon brands. Snapdragon will now be a standalone brand with "specific ties to the Qualcomm brand where appropriate." Another major change is the introduction of new representative colors, including Midnight, Gunmetal, Nickel, Snapdragon Red, and Gold. However, Gold will only be used for premium-tier products.
Since 5G support is now ubiquitous across Qualcomm's mobile Snapdragon lineup, it will no longer call it out specifically. 5G "will be a given" on all upcoming Snapdragon connected platforms
