Qualcomm has announced its next gen flagship processor, the company has decided to split Qualcomm and Snapdragon brand as independent brands. This is the Snapdragon 8 Gen1, and here’s everything you need to know about it.
The SoC is built on a 4nm process, and has ARMV9 CPU Kryo Cores. The 64-bit processor will support up to 3.0GHz frequency. Qualcomm says that the new processor is 20% faster, and has 30% Power Savings than its predecessor. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 uses the 7th Gen AI Engine, that offers 4X faster AI Performance.
It also gets a boost in terms of gaming, the Qualcomm Adreno GPU is 30% faster and is 25% power efficient and has 60% Faster Performance for Vulkan graphics. The GPU supports Unreal Engine 5, VRS Pro (Image-Based VRS), Frame Motion Engine, Volumetric Rendering, OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, and Vulkan 1.1.
Phones with the new SoC can support up to 4K resolution display with a 60 Hz refresh rate, or a QHD+ screen with a 144 Hz refresh rate. Devices with an External Display can be equipped with a 4K @ 60 Hz panel. Display technologies supported by the processor include HDR10+, HDR10, up to 10-bit Color Depth and Rec2020 Color Gamut.
The processor will support LPDDR5 RAM, up to 3200 MHz frequency. In the optics department, the Qualcomm Spectra ISP 3rd Gen Sensing Hub, supports Always-on AI, Always-On Camera, Triple 18-bit ISP, 8K HDR, 5x better night mode. Phones can sport up to 36 MP triple cameras MFNR, or Dual Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64+36 MP or a Single Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 108 MP. The processor can power a single camera up to 200 megapixels.
In terms of audio, the mobile platform supports Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm aptX audio playback Lossless, Voice, Adaptive. It is compatible with the following codecs: Codec Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), VP8, VP9, HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision.
Qualcomm’s new chipset supports NFC, USB Type-C 3.1. It is equipped with a Wi-Fi Qualcomm FastConnect 6900, 3.6 Gbps, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/ 6 GHz, 802.11ax, Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ac, 802.11a/b/g/n, 4k QAM, 4-stream DBS, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, 2×2 MIMO.
For mobile connectivity, the SoC features a Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF, that can deliver to 10Gbps speeds for 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, FDD, 5G NR, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), SA (standalone), TDD, NSA (non-standalone), sub-6 GHz, HSPA, WCDMA, LTE including CBRS support, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen1 supports Bluetooth 5.2, Dual Bluetooth antennas, LE Audio Features, Snapdragon Sound technology suite. The SoC will work with Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, NavIC, GPS, QZSS satellites and supports Dual Frequency L1/L5.
Security-wise, the chipset has a Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor, Qualcomm: 3D Sonic Sensor Max for fingerprint recognition. The SoC also supports Iris, Voice, and Face recognition for biometric authentication.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 specs
| Display | Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz; Max External Display: Up to 4K @ 60 Hz; HDR10+, HDR10, Color Depth: Up to 10-bit; Color Gamut: Rec2020 |
| Chipset | 4nm Process, Kryo Cores, 64-bit, up to 3.0GHz, 20% faster, 30% Power Savings, 7th Gen AI Engine, 4X faster AI Performance Hexagon Processor: Fused AI Accelerator architecture, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Qualcomm Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno, 30% faster, 25% Power Savings, Vulkan 60% Faster Performance, Unreal Engine 5, VRS Pro (Image-Based VRS), Frame Motion Engine, Volumetric Rendering, OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1 |
| Memory | LPDDR5 RAM, 3200 MHz |
| Cameras | Qualcomm Spectra ISP, 3rd Gen Sensing Hub, Always-on AI, Always-On Camera, Triple 18-bit ISP, 8K HDR, 5x better night mode |
| Camera Support | Triple Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 36 MP; Dual Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64+36 MP; Single Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 108 MP; Single Camera: Up to 200 MP |
| Camera Features | Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR), AI-based face detection, auto-focus, and auto-exposure, Locally Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering, Low light photography architecture, 720p @ 960 FPS Slow Motion Video Capture, Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Video Recording, 4K Video Capture @ 120 FPS, 8K video capture at 30fps, Bokeh Engine for Video Capture, Video super resolution, 64 MP Photo Capture |
| Audio | Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm aptX audio playback Lossless, Voice, Adaptive |
| Codec | Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), VP8, VP9, HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision |
| Connectivity | NFC, USB Type-C 3.1 |
| Mobile Networks | Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF, Up to 10Gbps, 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, FDD, 5G NR, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), SA (standalone), TDD, NSA (non-standalone), sub-6 GHz, HSPA, WCDMA, LTE including CBRS support, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE |
| Wi-Fi | Qualcomm FastConnect 6900, 3.6 Gbps, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/ 6 GHz, 802.11ax, Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ac, 802.11a/b/g/n, 4k QAM, 4-stream DBS, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, 2x2 MIMO |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.2, Dual Bluetooth antennas, LE Audio Features, Snapdragon Sound technology suite |
| Satellite | Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, NavIC, GPS, QZSS, Dual Frequency L1/L5 |
| Security | Trust Management Engine iSIM/eUICC, Fingerprint: Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor, Qualcomm: 3D Sonic Sensor Max Secure Processing Unit: Biometric Authentication (Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, Face) Wi-Fi Security: WPA3 Easy Connect, WPA3-Enhanced Open, WPA3-Enterprise, WPA3-Personal |
| Part Number | SM8450 |
Phones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
Qualcomm has confirmed that the new chipset will power devices from Black Shark, Honor, iQOO, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Redmi, SHARP, Sony Corporation, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE. The phones will be available in the market from the end of 2021.
The Xiaomi 12 will feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Motorola has confirmed that the upcoming Moto Edge will use the processor. The Realme GT2 Pro, ASUS ROG Phone 3 2022, are among the other devices that will ship with the new processor.
