Qualcomm simply held a launch occasion in China referred to as “Snapdragon Night,” the place the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 platform was introduced.

The “plus” replace is a performance-kicker model of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 {hardware} platform and brings noticeable efficiency and energy effectivity enhancements.

These enhancements come from mainly a two-pronged method to the chip’s improvement. First, Qualcomm makes use of a new 4nm semiconductor course of at TSMC, which is even higher than the earlier Samsung’s 4nm one. Both platforms will likely be produced in parallel as a part of Qualcomm’s technique of producing diversification.

Secondly, the Qualcomm bodily design workforce has had extra time to optimize the chip’s structure and inside datapaths that may have maxed up at larger frequencies. As a consequence, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 reaches between 6% and 12% larger frequency clocks throughout numerous models.

For context, the “physical design” of the chip refers to how the transistors and wires are bodily laid out. At the identical time, the general logic of the design stays an identical to the unique model. In brief, it’s higher constructed and manufactured.

These enhancements result in elevated efficiency, with Qualcomm claiming a 10% CPU efficiency increase, a ten% GPU clock enhance, and a much-improved energy effectivity (efficiency per Watt): as much as 30%, says Qualcomm.

This product’s energy effectivity is awe-inspiring as we normally don’t see these numbers leap that a lot inside the similar technology. Using much less energy for a similar activity additionally reduces the warmth and improves sustained efficiency. It means real-world gaming/XR isn’t as throttled as a result of warmth build-up. The handset cooling system considerably impacts this as properly.

I’ve had some hands-on time with a few Qualcomm’s improvement handsets, and we noticed benchmark numbers consistent with the claimed velocity enhancements.

This new platform will permit Qualcomm’s prospects to construct ultra-premium merchandise with the very best Android efficiency and gross margins. You can anticipate the same old OEMs equivalent to Motorola, Honor, Xiaomi, or OnePlus to construct merchandise primarily based on this new SoC (complete specs in the official PDF).

Simultaneously, Qualcomm launched the brand new Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 platform, which serves the Premium smartphone market (vs. High-End).

The aim is to convey many high-end options to a lower cost level, together with Gaming or Camera options which are extremely coveted and are differentiators from an OEM advertising and marketing perspective.

For instance, Qualcomm says that Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 can render 3D 20% sooner than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 778G. Also, the brand new chip can assist Camera seize of as much as 200 MP vs. 66MP earlier than). These are all very considerable beneficial properties inside an identical value envelope.

Finally, Qualcomm talked about throughout its briefing that its Frame Motion Engine had been built-in into Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. It’s a {hardware} frame-interpolation characteristic that may enhance the perceived video games FPS with out rising the graphics computations proportionally. It’s nice to protect battery life as properly.

Filed in Cellphones. Read extra about Processors, Qualcomm, Snapdragon and SoC.