Qualcomm just introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the company’s latest flagship Mobile Platform at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2023 event, as expected.
CPU
Compared to the predecessor, the new Kryo CPU with five gold cores promises 30% performance improvements and 20% improved power efficiency with new 1-5-2 microarchitecture. It has 1 x Prime core at up to 3.3 GHz, 5 x Performance cores at up to 3.2 GHz and 2 Efficiency cores at up to 2.3 GHz.
GPU
The upgraded Qualcomm Adreno GPU promises 25% better performance and 25% power efficiency, plus 40% better Ray Tracing, compared to the predecessor. It also offers 1Hz Variable Refresh Rate in DPU for low power display modes.
It offers a full suite of Snapdragon Elite Gaming features with lifelike, multi-source lighting powered by Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing with Global Illumination, a first-in-mobile feature, thanks to Unreal Engine 5.2. The chip also supports up to 240 FPS on 240 Hz displays.
It offers upscaling game scenes up to 8K external displays with Snapdragon Game Super Resolution and the Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 generates even higher quality scenes, doubling the frame rate while maintaining the same power consumption.
AI
The Qualcomm AI Engine is the first AI Engine to support multi-modal generative AI models, including popular large language models (LLM), language vision models (LVM), and transformer network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) up to 10B parameters—solely on-device.
The world’s fastest Stable Diffusion enables you to generate an image at a fraction of a second; quickly generate multiple options to pick from or create various social media posts in an instant, said the company.
LLM models can run up to 20 tokens/sec*, one of the fastest in the smartphone industry, so your personal AI assistant can respond to you swiftly, adds Qualcomm.
There is Qualcomm Sensing Hub with 3.5x AI performance increase and the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU performance is 98% faster with up to 40% performance/watt improvements compared to the predecessor.
ISP
There are 12 layers of Spectra 18-bit triple Cognitive ISP. The Video Object Eraser by Arcsoft for video capture removes unwanted people and
objects. Two always-sensing cameras in the front and back allow for easy QR code scanning, face unlock, and more.
Zoom Anyplace, powered by Samsung’s first 200 MP image sensor optimized for Snapdragon, allows capture of multiple videos, object tracking, and 2x and 4x zoom—all in 4K
First HDR photo technology from Dolby enables capture and playback of
images with greater range of colors, tones, and shades to reflect the full
creative vision of the photographer. Truepic photo capture with C2PA standard support lets you snap a photo with Truepic’s cryptographic seal to prove the photo is real and not generative AI.
Vlogger’s View lets you share both your selfie camera and rear camera video
simultaneously, putting you in the action as you share and narrate. Photo Expansion intuitively extends a photo beyond what was captured.
Connectivity
It has Snapdragon X75 5G Modem RF System, designed with AI hardware acceleration. This is the world’s first 5G modem with an integrated AI tensor hardware accelerator achieves better speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness, and location accuracy, said Qualcomm.
It supports Wi-Fi 7 offering up to 5.8 Gbps speed and dual Bluetooth connectivity for sustained immersion, thanks to new Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System. It is also the only Wi-Fi system supporting High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link for blazing fast, low-latency performance, according to the company.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (SM8650-AB) specifications
- 1 x Kryo Prime CPU (Arm Cortex-X4 based) at up to 3.3GHz, 5 x Kryo Performance CPUs (3 x Arm Cortex-A720 at up to 3.2GHz and 3 x Arm Cortex-A720 based at up to 3GHz), 2x Kryo Efficiency CPUs (Arm Cortex-A520 based) at up to 2.3GHz, ARMv9 architecture
- 4nm Process Technology
- Built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 5G modem-RF system
- 5G speeds of up to 10Gpbs down, 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, mmWave: 1000 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO, Sub-6 GHz: 300 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave Gen 4, Qualcomm Smart Transmit Gen 4 technology, Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm 5G Ultra-Low Latency Suite, Global 5G multi-SIM, including Qualcomm DSDA Gen 2
- Qualcomm Adreno next-gen GPU, Vulkan 1.3 API support, HDR gaming (10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut), API Support: OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.3, Real-time Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing with Global Illumination, Support for Unreal Engine 5 Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections System, Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0, Snapdragon Game Post Processing Accelerator
- Hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder, HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision
- Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, New Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier, Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), Playback: -108dB, Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite, Spatial Audio with Head Tracking
- Up to 36 MP triple camera, Up to 64+36 MP dual camera, Up to 108 MP single camera with ZSL, Up to 200MP single camera, Qualcomm Spectra Image Sensor Processor (Cognitive 18-bit triple-ISP)
- Rec. 2020 color gamut photo and video capture, Up to 10-bit color depth photo and video capture, 8K HDR Video Capture + 64 MP Photo Capture
- 10-bit HEIF: HEIC photo capture, HEVC video capture, Video
- Capture Formats: HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, 8K HDR Video Capture @ 30 FPS, 4K Video Capture @ 120 FPS, Slow-mo video capture at 720p @ 960 FPS, Bokeh Engine 2 for Video Capture, Pro Sight Video Capture, Night Vision video capture with RAW AI Noise Reduction in 4K 60 FPS, Computational HDR video capture: Up to 4 exposures (with QDOL image sensors), Video super resolution, Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR), Locally Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering, Truepic photo capture with C2PA-compliant certificate authority
- On-Device Display Support: 4K at 60 Hz / QHD+ at 144 Hz, Maximum External Display Support: up to 8K @ 30 Hz, Up to 1080 @ 240 Hz, Variable Refresh Rate support for 240 Hz to 1 Hz, 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10, HDR10+, HDR vivid, and Dolby Vision
- Qualcomm Hexagon Processor, Fused AI Accelerator, Hexagon scalar, vector, and tensor accelerators, Hexagon Direct Link, Upgraded Micro Tile Inferencing, Upgraded power delivery system, Support for mix precision (INT8+INT16), Support for all precisions (INT4, INT8, INT16, FP16)
- Support for LP-DDR5x memory up to 4800 MHz, Memory Density: Up to 24 GB
- Wi-Fi 7 Peak speed: 5.8 Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11be, 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) Multi-gigabit, Integrated 802.11ac 2×2 (2-stream) MU-MIMO, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6GHz, Bluetooth 5.4, LE Audio, Dual Bluetooth antennas
- Bluetooth audio: Snapdragon Sound Technology with support for Qualcomm aptX Voice, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, and LE audio, NFC
- GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC capable, Dual Frequency GNSS (L1/L5), Sensor-Assisted 6.0,With global map aiding, Urban pedestrian navigation with sidewalk accuracy, Global freeway lane-level vehicle navigation
- USB Version 3.1 Gen 2; USB Type-C Support, UFS 4.0
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology
Availability
Qualcomm has confirmed that Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform will be adopted by global OEMs and brands including, ASUS, Honor, iQOO, MEIZU, NIO,
Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmi, RedMagic, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE with the first commercial devices expected in the coming weeks.
Commenting on the launch, Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. said:
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 infuses high-performance AI across the entire system to deliver premium-level performance and extraordinary experiences to consumers. This platform unlocks a new era of generative AI enabling users to generate unique content, help with productivity, and other breakthrough use cases. Each year, we set out to design leading features and technologies that will power our latest Snapdragon 8-series mobile platform and the next generation of flagship Android devices. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 delivers.