Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1: Here’s what to expect

If you’re a fan of Android phones like me.., then the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is a big deal, as this upcoming chipset from the US-based chip-making giant Qualcomm will almost certainly power many of the best Android phones to hit the market from 2022.

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The latest innovation from Qualcomm is now here after the company introduced its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform at its annual Tech Summit event, but leaks are already hinting at the chip’s architecture to be the best Qualcomm smartphone chipset of at least the first half part of the year 2022.

Here’s everything we know so far.,

What are the specs of the next Snapdragon to expect?

While Qualcomm hasn’t revealed much about the chipset so far, we have a few leaks that suggest the chipset architecture is set to be based on the latest Armv9 standard. Evleaks predicts the following components:

Kryo 780 CPU
Adreno 730 GPU with lower clock speeds: 2.42GHz for the prime core, 2.17GHz for the big cores, and 1.79GHz for the small cores.
Spectra 680 ISP
Integrated Snapdragon X65 5G modem

It’s the CPU that usually attracts the most attention. The usually reliable leaker Digital Chat Station has predicted the specific cores as follows:

1 x Cortex-X2 @ 3.0GHz
3 x 2.50GHz
4 x 1.79GHz

That said, another leak from leaker Digital Chat Station pointed to an even higher speed 3.09GHz main core, along with 2.4GHz middle cores and 1.8GHz efficiency cores, apparently allowing for roughly 20% better performance than the Snapdragon 888. 

Artificial intelligence features also remain a focus for Qualcomm, and the company is partnering with Google Cloud to introduce its Cloud Vertex AI Neural Architecture Search features into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform.

According to TechRadar, A Qualcomm spokesperson said, “It allows [manufacturers] to apply Neural Architecture Search techniques, and would let [manufacturers] be able to optimize the model to the fullest extent to be able to get the most optimal models for best accuracy”.

There is still some uncertainty around the clock speeds though. A leak by tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) also suggests that the chip gets a single-core score of 1200 and a multi-core score of 3900. Ice Universe says they’ve seen an 898 with an X2 core clocked at 3.09GHz.

The image signal processor (ISP) has been improved on this chip with it introducing 4,096 times more camera data than previous models. It was previously a 14-bit ISP on the Snapdragon 888, and this features an 18-bit one.

A new always-on camera is an impressive introduction with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The idea here is your phone’s camera would be able to constantly be running, and then software developers can introduce new features to make use of that. As an example, Qualcomm suggested you could unlock your phone without having to press a button to start a facial recognition process.

A new feature called Adreno Frame Motion Engine will allow you to double the frame rate in the games you’re playing while maintaining the same power levels

The chip is expected to be fabricated by giant phone manufacturers Samsung’s 4nm process an upgrade from the 5nm form factor used last year. The chip is said to be faster and more efficient than the previous-gen Snapdragon 888. That should mean improved power efficiency and performance.

Which Phones will support Snapdragon 898?

Smartphones from every other phone company you can think of will probably use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip in at least one of their product from H1 2022. However, leaks indicated that the Xiaomi 12 is almost certain to support the chip. If that is true, it will be the first phone to run on the new chip.

Phones brands like Oppo Find X4, Vivo, Realme GT 2 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, Sony Xperia 1 IV, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Motorola Edge X are expected to run the chip too. Samsung is also expected to launch its Galaxy S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 series early in 2022 with the new chip. Leaks also suggest that the Huawei P60 range could use this chipset.

This is top-end power, so it’s reserved for the most expensive devices. If you’re a smartphone fan, you’ve likely noticed that the new chipset also has a new naming structure, too. We expected this to be called the Snapdragon 898, but Qualcomm moved to what it believes is a more “simplified” naming structure.