News of the specs of the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has been all over the internet.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is Qualcomm’s latest flagship SoCs for Android based smartphones.
Earlier I posted confirmed specs for the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 which on paper are very impressive. They soon followed up with what would be considered a crazy benchmark score of 1260000 on AnTuTu.
Praise has come to MediaTek from every corner of the smartphone world from reviewers and tech people alike.
It is in this vein that Qualcomm have let slip the specs for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. I’d like you to know that these are leaks and have not been confirmed yet by Qualcomm.
Key specs for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Prime core: 1 Cortex X3 (3.4GHz)
- Big cores: 4 Cortex A715 (2.8GHz)
- Small cores: 3 Cortex A510 (2.0GHz)
- GPU: Adreno 740
- Process: TSMC N4P (5nm)
- Arch: ARMv9
- RAM: LPDDR5x
- Storage: UFS 4.0
- ISP: Spectra
- AI: Hexagon DSP
- Camera: 200MP
- Video: up to 8K resolution
- Modem: Snapdragon X70
- Bluetooth: 5.3
- WiFi: version 7
Performance
Qualcomm want to beat everyone else in performance and are very serious about it. In the not so distant past, almost everyone used 1+3+4 configurations for their flagship SoCs. The only two exceptions are Apple (2+4) and Google (2+2+4).
The generally accepted knowledge was that 1 prime core was powerful enough to do most tasks. If the task needs more than one CPU core, then there should be 3 big CPU cores waiting to support the prime core.
The 4 small cores will carry all the other casual tasks without running heavily draining the battery. This is what MediaTek did, going with a 1+3+4 configuration.
Qualcomm are instead going with a 1+4+3 configuration. This means that they’re using 1 prime X3 core, 4 big A715 cores (as opposed to 3 that MTK used) and 3 small cores instead of 4.
So with 5 (1 prime + 4 big) powerful cores, they can deliver a lot more processing power than an SoC using 4 (1 prime + 3 big) powerful cores.
Only benchmarks and real life use will confirm if this is a wise move on their part.
Whatever happens, I would say that this is a good move because it has prompted Qualcomm to think outside the box and rearranged their own CPU core configuration. If it weren’t for MediaTek, it would have been copy paste business as usual.
Read: What is a GPU?
GPU
Unlike other fabless manufacturers, Qualcomm has always made their own in house GPU. This is known by the brand name Adreno. The GPU on this one is the Adreno 740.
Just like ARM’s Immortalis, Adreno 740 also brings support for hardware based ray tracing as well as other improvements for graphics.
These improvements are driven by advancements in mobile gaming and app design.
It would interest you to know that Dimensity 9200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 have soundly beaten Bionic A16 in GPU benchmark tests.
These are interesting times.
Build process and architecture
This SoC is designed using ARMv9 and is built on a TSMC N4P process. The difference between TSMC and Samsung’s fabrication processes are quite clear.
SoCs built on TSMC’s process are actually doing far better than those built by Samsung.
One thing I would love to point out is that many people, blog sites and landing pages of manufacturers are reporting TSMC’s N4P as 4nm. This is very incorrect.
If you go to TSMC’S page, it clearly states that the N4P is enhanced 5nm. But GSM Arena and co are reporting N4P as 4nm and they’re the reputable sites.
RAM and Storage
The SD8 Gen 2 uses the latest LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. This should ensure that the SoC can handle apps and multitask quickly.
Multimedia
The SD8 Gen 2 comes equipped with a Spectra ISP and Hexagon DSP to handle photography and videography.
It supports camera resolutions of up to 200MP and video resolutions of up to 8K. It can drive display resolutions of 3840×2160p.
Connectivity
The SD8 Gen 2 boasts a shiny new Snapdragon X70 modem. This modem supports mmWave, midband and Sub-6GHz 5G networks. It also supports Cat. 24 4G LTE. This modem has upload speeds of 316Mbps and download speeds of 2500Mbps.
There’s also additional support for the latest Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 7.
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