Qualcomm has just announced its next major smartphone chip . The replacement to the first-class Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in phone like theSamsung Galaxy S24 UltraandOnePlus 12is here , and in many room , it ’s averybig deal .
talk about smartphone french-fried potatoes is n’t always the most exciting thing , but Qualcomm has given us a raft to blab out about and look forward to this time around . Let ’s get into it .
Qualcomm’s new chip has a new name
For starters , there ’s the name . wide expected to be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 , Qualcomm ’s new mobile chip is anticipate the Snapdragon 8 Elite . On the one hand , it bring the company ’s smartphone chips in line with its Snapdragon X elect laptop computer chipsets . On the other , it is confusing going from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 last yr to the Snapdragon 8 Elite this twelvemonth .
It ’s a significant name change , and it ’s one Qualcomm palpate indicates how big of an upgrade this yr ’s buffalo chip is . Speaking with Qualcomm ’s SVP and GM of Mobile Chris Patrick , he say “ this is a special year ” for Snapdragon and that the ship’s company sees a cleared difference “ before this chip and after this chip . ”
How much faster is it? A lot
On the note of those upgrades , let ’s delve into them . Most smartphone poker chip have performance core and efficiency cores . Performance burden handle intensive tasks like play and apps , while efficiency cores keep screen background process running . For context , the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has five performance centre , two efficiency core , and one prime core ( which delivers even more horsepower than performance cores ) .
The fresh Snapdragon 8 Elite does n’t haveanyefficiency cores . rather , it has six performance nub and two meridian essence . Further , the clock speed of those cores is faster than before . The two quality cores can go up to 4.32GHz — a significant increase from the 3.3GHz maximum speeding of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ’s choice gist . Similarly , the performance cores of the Snapdragon 8 Elite are clocked at 3.53GHz — another upgrade from the 3.2GHz level best of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ’s execution cores . Qualcomm tell this translates to 45 % good overall CPU functioning while at the same time delivering a 44 % advance to CPU might efficiency .
Qualcomm portion out benchmark exam results of the Snapdragon 8 Elite to give an idea of just how much quicker this year ’s scrap really is . Below are Geekbench upshot from a Snapdragon 8 elect character machine , compared to our own bench mark results from a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 - poweredGalaxy S24 Plusand the A18 chip inside theiPhone 16 Plus .
The single and multi - core score of the Snapdragon 8 Elite are impressively higher than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 . Apple ’s A18 potato chip appear to still have the edge in individual - core carrying out , but the Snapdragon 8 Elite tears ahead of it for multi - core performance . We ’ll put the Snapdragon 8 Elite through our own tests as soon as we can , but based on what we see so far , it looks like the veridical deal .
This all - big - core excogitation is somethingMediaTek first inaugurate with the Dimensity 9300 chiplast year and persist in withthe Dimensity 9400 earlier this month . It ’s very interesting to see Qualcomm also shift to this new design , and the companionship claims it permit for “ speed never before examine in the smartphone realm . ” We ’ll certainly need to see for ourselves if that ’s true , but at least on newspaper , it ’s an impressive apparatus .
And that ’s just the processor dowry of the Snapdragon 8 Elite . The raw Adreno GPU is using a sliced architecture for the first time , which should translate to better execution and great power efficiency — 40 % gains with both , to be exact . It also enable support for Unreal Engine 5 ’s Nanite organisation for the first clip on a smartphone microchip , which should translate to incredibly eminent graphic fidelity in games that expend it .
A splash of AI, too
As you ’d expectfrom a fleck announcement in 2024 , there ’s also some AI . This year ’s big upgradeis Qualcomm ’s Oryon CPU , which is now part of the Qualcomm AI Engine . In human terms , that think of the Snapdragon 8 Elite is now capable of many more on - gimmick AI features that previously expect the swarm .
Qualcomm provide several example , including operate a multimodal AI supporter capable of interpreting text edition , voice , and photo stimulant entirely on - gimmick . like AI progress come to picture taking . Qualcomm designed a newfangled ISP ( figure signal processor ) for the Snapdragon 8 Elite , and thanks to a tight connector to the chip ’s AI railway locomotive , that translates to new AI enhancements to autofocus , auto white counterweight , and automobile exposure .
It ’s interesting stuff , but manufacturers will decide if and how to implement these tools into their phones . There ’s no warrantee theSamsung Galaxy S25will have all of these thing , for example , but it might , and that ’s still telling .
A chip worth getting excited about
Smartphone chips usually are n’t exciting things to spill the beans about . But when a fleck like the Snapdragon 8 elect hassuchsignificant yr - over - year performance and efficiency improvements , that changes .
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 proved to be an first-class cow dung throughout our testing this class . It ’s chance in many of thebest Android phonesyou can buy in 2024 and is every bit capable of howling performance and electric battery lifetime . If the Snapdragon 8 Elite amend those things as much as Qualcomm claims it does , color me impressed .
We expect the first phones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to launch in 2025 , and I ca n’t wait to get my hands on them .
