During the Snapdragon Summit 2022 earlier this week, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The flagship-grade chipset brings Wi-Fi 7 support, AI and gaming performance boost and more. With the first phones running on the latest processor expected to be out by the end of the year, here’s everything you need to know about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU: Improve speeds
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is based on the ARMv9 architecture and uses TSMC’s 4nm process. The chip uses a 1+4+3 instead of the 1+3+4 configuration.
Featuring a Cortex-X3 core clocked at 3.2GHz, the latest Snapdragon chipset comes with four performance cores, with the extra core expected to help improve performance in applications like gaming. According to Qualcomm, the latest processor will provide a 35 percent improvement over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Qualcomm has packed in two Cortex-A715 cores and Cortex-A710 cores, all of which are clocked at 2.8GHz. While the A710 cores will help run 32-bit legacy apps, the A715 cores support only 64-bit apps.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 also comes with three Cortex-A510 cores which are clocked at 2.0GHz. According to Qualcomm, even though the chipset has fewer efficiency cores compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the latest chip offers 40 percent improved power efficiency.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 GPU: Ray-tracing
While the Snapdragon 8 gen 2 GPU is expected to offer 25 percent improved performance compared to last year’s offering, the main eye-catcher is the addition of hardware-backed ray tracing.
To give you a quick recap, ray tracing is a form of rendering technique that offers life-like shadows and reflections. This means developers can now use the technology to make more realistic games on mobile devices.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 GPU: Camera improvements
With Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm is introducing a dedicated AI processing chip. This means that phones running the latest chipset will be able to use features like autofocus, layering, facial recognition and others in the viewfinder itself.
On the connectivity side of things, the latest chipset now supports Wi-Fi 7, which supports speeds up to 5.8Gbps. Qualcomm has also added support for dynamic head tracking, Bluetooth 5.3, lossless sound quality and low-energy audio among many more.
Some other new features include the addition of ‘always on camera’ which will automatically block notifications if it detects someone beside you, scan QR codes without waking up the phone and help switch between portrait and landscape mode.
What phones will the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 power?
During the launch event, Qualcomm said that almost all smartphone manufacturers have committed to using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
The first phones expected to feature the latest chipset might include the Vivo X90 series, Xiaomi 13, OnePlus 11, Oppo Find X6 and the Galaxy S23 series.
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