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Qualcomm officially unveils the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
Qualcomm today introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the latest cutting-edge Applications Processor (AP) designed by the San Diego-based firm. Featuring what Qualcomm calls "groundbreaking AI," the SoC will be used by manufacturers such as ASUS ROG, HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, RedMagic, Redmi, Sharp, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, XINGJI/MEIZU, and ZTE. Devices powered by the new chipset will start to be available to consumers by the end of this year.
The chip will be produced by TSMC using its 4nm process node. Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets at Qualcomm says, "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. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 delivers ground breaking AI, unparalleled connectivity, and champion-level gameplay, enabling consumers to enhance every experience on their most trusted device."
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip will be found on devices before the end of this year
Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip will deliver AI performance up to 4.35x times faster than the previous chip. It also is the first Qualcomm chip to support an AI-powered always sensing camera. The company adds that the chip "uses an AI neural network to make the camera contextually aware of faces, facial features, hair, clothes, skies and more –and optimize them individually so every detail receives customized professional image tuning."
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 uses 64-bit architecture with one Prime core (Cortex-X3) running at a clock speed up to 3.2GHz. Four Performance cores run at a clock speed up to 2.8GHz, and the chip contains three Efficiency cores running at a clock speed up to 2.0GHz.
The new SoC will support up to 200MP photo capture and 8K HDR video capture in 10-bit HDR. Audio also gets improved as well thanks to lossless music streaming and spatial sound capabilities with head tracking. This delivers the surround-sound immersion that allows users to feel as though the sound is coming from a specific spot around them.
The chip includes the latest upgraded version of the Adreno GPU for 25% faster performance. And with the Kryo CPU, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm says to expect an improvement in power efficiency of up to 40%.
Qualcomm calls the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 the most advanced 5G platform with "unparalleled connectivity from 5G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth." Qualcomm is considered to have the most advanced mobile modems and the Snapdragon X70 5G Modem-RF System continues that tradition. The modem supports blazing-fast download data speeds up to 5.8Gbps (good luck finding those numbers on your Speedtest.net app). And the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity system offers Wi-Fi 7 and dual Bluetooth connectivity.
Qualcomm's current top chipset is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1
Security is an issue that mobile device users have to deal with. Qualcomm says that "The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform is safeguarded with Snapdragon Secure, offering the latest in isolation, cryptography, key management, attestation, and more—all intricately designed to protect users’ data and privacy. This premium level of protection limits the exposure and exploitation of data on devices powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2."
Qualcomm isn't forgetting your phone's battery which is why the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will come with Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology. And Snapdragon Elite Gaming has new features including advanced accelerated ray tracing that adds more life-like light, reflections, and illuminations to mobile games.
Currently, TSMC is pushing out the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 which replaced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The former chip can be found on phones released mostly during the second-half of this year including the Motorola X30 Ultra. We could see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering up the majority, if not all, of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 series.
