Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, and there is lots to like. Just like Google’s Tensor G3, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is all about integrating generative AI on-device, and to that impact, the platform consists of text-to-image AI fashions, video object editor comparable to what you get on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, important modifications to the ISP that lets you take a lot better photographs and movies, and gaming tweaks.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will make its manner to the most effective Android telephones of 2024, beginning with the Xiaomi 14 sequence. Xiaomi has been the primary to announce telephones based mostly on Qualcomm’s newest platform for just a few years now, however its Chinese rivals aren’t far behind; we should always see the preliminary wave of units debuting in China in November, with world availability kicking off on the finish of 2023.
There’s clearly so much to get to with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so let’s check out all the brand new options, and what’s in retailer for Android flagships subsequent yr.
AI in every single place
You cannot go two seconds within the tech business with out somebody citing AI, and that is been the case with chip distributors as nicely. Google made AI-assisted options the most important differentiator on the Tensor G3, and Qualcomm is following swimsuit with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The chipset debuts the newest model of Qualcomm’s AI Engine, and it really works with multi-modal generative AI fashions — together with giant language fashions (LLM) and language imaginative and prescient fashions.
Qualcomm is making a whole lot of claims in regards to the AI Engine; it is touted to be the quickest at Stable Diffusion, producing photographs from textual content queries in only a second. Text prompts are only one manner Qualcomm is including generative AI to the combo; you may use voice prompts, and use an current picture and make modifications to it. The engine is ready to deal with up to 10 billion parameters, run up to 20 tokens a second in LLM fashions like Meta’s Llama 2, and the Sensing Hub is 3.5 instances sooner than what we obtained final yr.
The Hexagon NPU can be selecting up sizeable beneficial properties, and is 98% from final yr and is 40% extra environment friendly when working the identical workloads. What does all of this energy imply in each day use circumstances? Well, Qualcomm is introducing the flexibility to use generative AI to alter the background of photographs, add totally new components by way of a predictive pixel characteristic, and take away any objects from movies — which has similarities to Magic Eraser on the Pixels.
There’s clearly so much on supply right here, and it is going to be down to particular person system makers to leverage the brand new AI Engine.
More energy than you’ll need
Although Qualcomm went with a 4 + 4 core configuration prior to now, it switched issues up following the introduction of the Cortex X cores, opting to go together with a 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 configuration. There’s yet one more change on this space with the introduction of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which makes use of a 1 + 5 + 2 configuration that sees the inclusion of a single prime core — a 3.3GHz Cortex X4 — together with 5 devoted efficiency cores going up to 3.2GHz, and simply two effectivity cores that go up to 2.3GHz.
Basically, Qualcomm is limiting the variety of effectivity cores whereas growing the efficiency cores with this technology, and that is an attention-grabbing selection to say the least. You additionally get the newest Arm v9.2 cores all through, with the Cortex X4 joined by the Cortex A720 that does the heavy lifting, and the Cortex A520 effectivity cores.
Unlike the A 17 Pro — which is constructed on TSMC’s newest 3nm node — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 remains to be utilizing the 4nm node. However, going with a longtime node offers Qualcomm the flexibility to get probably the most out of the method, and that is what it’s doing right here. To that impact, it’s touting a 30% improve in efficiency over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and 20% higher effectivity with the identical workloads.
That’s nothing to scoff at, significantly when you take into account how briskly the 8 Gen 2 is in each day use. Connectivity can be getting an honest increase with the introduction of the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, and it has just a few nifty options to optimize battery life over 5G. Similarly, the FastConnect 7800 system has Wi-Fi 7 with 4K QAM, and there is Bluetooth 5.4, LPDDR5X reminiscence with up to 24GB, and the same old slate of Qualcomm audio codes.
I’ll have extra to share on this space as soon as I get my arms on units that includes the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so keep tuned.
Unlock a brand new degree of gaming
Gaming is at all times a key space of focus for Qualcomm, nevertheless it’s additionally one thing most producers ignore. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 makes use of the latest-gen Adreno GPU, and it’s selecting up big upgrades: it’s 25% sooner and makes use of 25% much less energy, and 40% sooner at ray tracing. It’s one other matter that there aren’t many titles that may make the most of ray tracing on Android, but when recreation makers resolve to roll out the characteristic, the {hardware} will not be a bottleneck.
A giant addition this yr is Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0, a body technology algorithm that mechanically generates frames in choose titles. If that sounds acquainted, it is as a result of NVIDIA does one thing comparable with DLSS 3.5 on its video playing cards. You additionally get Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen world illumination and reflections system, and it ought to make visuals look life-like in demanding titles — supplied recreation makers leverage it.
To spherical issues off, the latest-gen Adreno facilitates 240fps gaming when related to an exterior 1080p monitor. Of course, your capability to play video games at wherever shut to these framerates is totally reliant on system producers, and so they’ve been conservative on this space.
ASUS is the one model that’s constantly working to allow excessive framerate gaming on its units, and whereas Samsung does not restrict framerates in most titles, that is not the case with Chinese manufacturers. All Chinese producers lock gaming to 60fps, so regardless that you have the potential to play at 240fps, you miss out on that if you use a tool from Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Realme, and OnePlus.
Cameras get an enormous increase
Qualcomm updates its Spectra ISP with each new technology, and that is no completely different with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. You get thrilling modifications to semantic segmentation — which lets you blur backgrounds in portrait pictures — and Night Vision video that now makes use of a serving of AI to take higher movies in little to no lighting.
What’s significantly nice is the introduction of Dolby HDR photographs, which ought to ship a wider dynamic vary and shade gamut in any state of affairs. Qualcomm additionally touts modifications to zoom when utilizing the likes of Samsung’s 200MP imaging module, tweaks to its always-sensing tech for face unlock, and a Vlogger’s View that lets you document video from the entrance and rear cameras on the similar time.
Photo Expansion is a cool new characteristic that makes use of generative AI to prolong the background of a photograph, so if you take a decent shot, you can use the characteristic to create a wider picture. As with gaming, it is down to producers to resolve what options they leverage of their units, so we’ll have to wait and see to get a greater understanding of what is truly usable on 2024 telephones.
Get prepared to see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 quickly
With Xiaomi launching the Xiaomi 14 sequence in China imminently, we do not have to wait lengthy to see what’s in retailer with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Other units will comply with swimsuit over the approaching weeks, with Qualcomm noting that ASUS, Honor, iQOO, MEIZU, NIO, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Redmi, CrimsonMagic, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE will roll out units based mostly on its newest platform. Samsung is rarely included on this checklist, however you can make certain that the Galaxy S24 sequence will leverage the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.