Dec 01, 2021 11:36:00

Qualcomm announces next-generation flagship SoC 'Snapdragon 8 Gen 1' for smartphones

At the private event 'Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021 ' held by semiconductor maker Qualcomm for two days from November 30, 2021, we announced 'Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 ' which will be the next generation flagship SoC for mobile.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform | Qualcomm
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon-8-gen-1-mobile-platform

Qualcomm Announces World's Most Advanced Mobile Platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Qualcomm
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2021/11/30/qualcomm-announces-worlds-most-advanced-mobile-platform-snapdragon-8-gen-1

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 8 Gen 1: Flagship SoC for 2022 Devices
https://www.anandtech.com/show/17091/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-8-gen-1-flagship-soc-for-2022-devices

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip is here to power the Android flagships of 2022 --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/30/22809687/qualcomm-snapdragon-8-gen-1-chip-smartphone-processor-specs-details

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the successor to the Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 888 Plus and is the first model to change the SoC naming convention from a three-digit number.

The composition comparison table with Snapdragon 888 is as follows.

	Snapdragon 8 Gen 1	Snapdragon 888
CPU	Cortex-X2: 1 core (Maximum 3.0GHz, 1024KB occupied L2 cache x 1) Cortec-A710: 3 cores (Maximum 2.5GHz, 512KB occupied L2 cache x 3) Cortex-A510: 4 cores (Maximum 1.80GHz, shared L2 cache of unknown size x 2) Shared L3 cache 6MB	Cortex-X1: 1 core (Maximum 2.84GHz, 1024KB occupied L2 cache x 1) Cortex-A78: 3 cores (Maximum 2.42GHz, 512KB occupied L2 cache x 3) Cortex-A55: 4 cores (Maximum 1.80GHz, 128KB occupied L2 cache x 4) Shared L3 cache 4MB
GPU	Adreno	Adreno 660
NPU	Next Generation Hexagon	Hexagon 780
Memory controller	16bit channel x 4 LPDDR5 up to 3200MHz System level cache 4MB
ISP	18-bit support x Spectra ISP	14-bit support x Spectra 580 ISP
On-board modem chip	Qualcomm X65	Qualcomm X60
Manufacturing process	Samsung 4nm process (details unknown)	Samsung 5LPE

The CPU of Snapdoragon 8 Gen 1 is 'Qualcomm Kryo CPU', Cortex-X2 is 1 core, high performance core Cortex-X710 is 3 cores, high efficiency core Cortex-A510 is 4 cores, as Qualcomm SoC Is characterized by being equipped with three types of

Armv9 architecture cores for the first time. The Cortex-A510 shares two L2 caches with four cores and has been redesigned from the previous model. Qualcomm states that the adoption of the Cortex-X2 has improved performance by 20% and power efficiency by 30% over its predecessor.

Also, the GPU uses the same Ardeno architecture core as the previous model, but it is named 'Qualcomm Adreno GPU' and numbering is eliminated. Hardware news site AnandTech predicts that the microarchitecture may be about to shift significantly from the previous Adreno series. In addition, GPU performance is improved by 30% from the previous model at the peak, and power efficiency is also improved by 25%. Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the first Qualcomm SoC to run the game engine Unreal Engine 5.

And the ISP involved in image processing taken with the smartphone camera supported 14-bit color depth input per channel in the previous model, but now it can support 18-bit input in Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Is a big point. By increasing the corresponding color depth input, it is possible to shoot with a

wider dynamic range. Also, the capture speed has improved from 2.7 gigapixels per second on the Snapdragon 888 to 3.2 gigapixels per second on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Furthermore, it is possible to shoot with 8K HDR and 64 million pixels, but the codec has not changed from the previous model, and the AV1 codec actively adopted by YouTube and Netflix has not been added.

Qualcomm states that AI performance has doubled compared to its predecessor, improving the performance of larger machine learning models, and power efficiency is '70% better than its peers.' doing.

The modem chip is the 4th generation 5G modem ' Snapdragon X65 ' announced by Qualcomm in February 2021 and is the first in the world to support 3GPP Release 16. In millimeter waves, it is possible to communicate in the 1000MHz band with 8 carriers or 2x2 MIMO , and in the sub 6GHz band with 4x4 MIMO in the 300MHz band, and a maximum downlink communication speed of 10Gbps has been realized.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 manufacturing process uses Samsung's 4nm node, but it 's unclear if it's Samsung's 4nm FinFET process, 4LPE, or customized for Qualcomm 8 Gen 1.

According to Qualcomm, it has already been decided to be adopted for smartphones such as Xiaomi, ZTE, Sony, Sharp, etc., and it is expected to be announced sequentially from the end of 2021.

'Overall, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is a very solid successor to the Snapdragon 888. What matters most to Qualcomm is the development and delivery of chips that most vendors can trust and mount on their devices. While competitors are diversifying and especially enhancing gaming performance, it's very difficult to beat Qualcomm in the industry and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 won't disappoint. ' I am.