Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor improves artificial intelligence

Qualcomm on Tuesday announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, its flagship mobile system-on-chip that will power the world’s top Android phones and tablets for next year. The company has been focused on adding features on silicon that it says will bring “breakthrough AI” to multiple aspects of the mobile experience.

Tent features include Snapdragon Smart, which improves chip AI performance, Snapdragon Sight for better object recognition, Snapdragon Elite Gaming, which adds hardware-accelerated ray tracing support, Snapdragon Connect for AI-driven connectivity and Snapdragon Sound for spatial and lossless audio. Support.

The first commercial devices should arrive on the market before the end of the year.

Be smart

Qualcomm is banking on its re-architected processor combined with updates to the GPU, Hexagon processor and Sensung Hub to create new artificial intelligences in the 8 Gen 2. It relies on a 4nm process in the Kryo processor , which is comprised of a single primary core driven by an Arm Cortex-X3 up to 3.2 GHz, four performance cores up to 2.8 GHz, and three efficiency cores up to 2.0 GHz. The 8 Gen 1, for comparison, had one main core, three performance cores, and four efficiency cores. Qualcomm claims this new arrangement delivers 40% more performance without affecting battery life.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The company has overhauled the Hexagon processor with an AI merged accelerator architecture with an updated Tensor accelerator, Vector extensions, Scalar accelerator and Direct Link. Combined with the new Sensing Hub, which contains dual AI audio processors and always-responsive camera support, and the 8 Gen 2 brings up to 4.35 times the AI ​​performance of the previous generation chip while increasing the 60% efficiency. It will also allow phone makers to bring more on-device natural language processing to their hardware in a way similar to Google’s Tensor-powered Pixel smartphones.

Snapdragon Sight really aims to increase the power of smartphone cameras. The Spectra image signal processor supports up to 200MP image sensors in various configurations as well as 8K video capture with 64MP stills, 8K60 playback, 10-bit color, and frame-based autofocus. ‘AI, facial recognition and exposure. Qualcomm says these new features enable secure facial recognition for phone locks, with future devices able to take into account facial features, hair, eyes, skin, and more. Additionally, Qualcomm is working more closely with image sensor makers Samsung and Sony to better integrate these features into future phone-based cameras.

Entertainment abounds

Qualcomm says 8 Gen 2 will bring new and richer entertainment experiences to mobile devices. For example, the revised GPU is 25% faster and supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It will be a boon on the mobile gaming front, delivering more realistic lighting and shadow effects in games. The GPU also supports HDR 10, HDR 10+, Dolby Vision, 10-bit color, hardware-accelerated H.265 and V9 decoding, as well as OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, and Vulkan 1.3. These will allow game developers to really push the boundaries and create more immersive worlds.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

Display support extends up to 4K displays at 60Hz or QHD+ displays at up to 144Hz. Many of today’s top phones have QHD+ displays with refresh rates up to up to 120Hz, but 8 Gen 2 will allow phone makers to kick those specs up a notch. The chip also supports sub-pixel rendering for OLED uniformity and OLED anti-aging compensation to reduce burn-in.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 pushes audio boundaries with a new version of Snapdragon Sound. Revised audio enables lossless 48KHz audio for music streaming, helping to bridge the last mile between mobile phones and wireless headphones. It also features spatial sound with dynamic head tracking for a full surround sound experience. Qualcomm hasn’t forgotten about gamers, who will be able to take advantage of new low-latency game modes that reduce audio delay to 48ms.

Broadband connections

Qualcomm claims its new Snapdragon Connect platform is the “world’s most advanced 5G platform”. It takes every potential connection and adds a dose of AI to improve device performance across the board.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

Snapdragon Connect is paired with the Snapdragon X70 5G modem and RF system, which leverages artificial intelligence to balance 5G download and upload speeds with coverage, latency and power efficiency. Crucially, it’s the first to support 5G dual SIMs, meaning people can run two 5G connections to one device for both personal and work numbers. Peak download speeds can reach 10 Gbps over 5G, while upload speeds reach 3.5 Gbps. It supports 5G mmWave and sub-6GHz in standalone and non-standalone modes

Despite the fact that the Wi-Fi Alliance has not finalized the Wi-Fi 7 specification, Qualcomm is moving forward with Wi-Fi 7 via the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity system. The company claims that the 7800 offers low-latency Wi-Fi 7 performance with downloads reaching 5.8 Gbps. Other Wi-Fi features of the 7800 include 8×8 MIMO, 4K QAM, simultaneous dual-band (2×2, 2×2), as well as enterprise-grade WPA3 security.

Bluetooth support is up to version 5.3 with aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless and LE audio codecs.

The chip includes almost all global positioning systems, such as GPS, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS and NavIC. It features L1/L5 dual-band GPS for better tracking of urban pedestrians, which will lead to better street-level map experiences when walking between tall buildings.

Other minor features of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 include support for up to 16GB LPDDR5x memory up to 4200MHz, USB 3.1, USB-C, UFS 4.0, and Secure Processing Unit for better security performance. ‘company. Qualcomm QuickCharge 5.0 is built-in for fast power-ups.

Coming

Qualcomm announced that a large number of hardware partners have already signed up to adopt 8 Gen 2. Some phone manufacturers include Asus, Honor, Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo and Sony. Some device makers will have 8 Gen 2 products in the market by the end of the year.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

Notably absent from the initial list of Qualcomm supporters? Samsung.

You can expect a large number of 8 Gen 2 devices to be launched during the first quarter of 2023, especially around the upcoming Mobile World Congress trade show.