Looking back at this year’s crop ofexcellent Android smartphones, it’s easy to see how Qualcomm has dominated. WhileGoogle struggled to get its Tensor G2 chipsetto meet modern efficiency standards, theSnapdragon 8 Gen 2built on its predecessor’s legacy with impressive performanceandlong-lasting battery life. Now, on the back of a breakthrough partnership with Samsung — and with Google looking to impress with itsrecently-launched Tensor G3— Qualcomm has returned with a new SoC for 2024.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 — no surprise on the name there — is, largely speaking, what you’d expect from a modern flagship processor. We’re not looking at a game-changing chipset, but with leaps in camera features, gaming performance, and of course, generative AI capabilities. And the best part? You might not have to wait until next year to see it in a smartphone for yourself.
Although all eyes are likely on the Snapdragon X Elite headed for PCs in the coming months, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the chipset that might just be found in your next daily driver. Once again built on a 4nm TSMC process, Qualcomm is claiming a 10 percent system efficiency boost over its last-gen SoC. Plenty of that is likely coming from improvements to the Kryo CPU. It’s an all-new 64-bit architecture this year, built out of a primary 3.3GHz Cortex-X4 core, five performance A720 cores (three at 3.2GHz, two at 3.0GHz), and two 2.3GHz A520 cores. 32-bit support is finally gone this year, with Qualcomm saying the industry is finally ready to move into a 64-bit exclusive space.
The latest Adreno GPU also looks for big improvements, with Qualcomm claiming 25 percent boosts to both performance and efficiency. There’s a lot riding on Android’s gaming prowess following the announcement of current-gen console games coming to the iPhone 15 Pro, but this company seems confident its hardware can compete. Qualcomm tells me it’s down to developers to make the effort, and that the brand is working with gamemakers to make those ports happen.
But performance is only a small part of the story this year. Would it surprise you to learn generative AI is Qualcomm’s big focus for 2024? We saw a big play in this space last year, with speed boosts to its AI Engine and dual AI processors for the Sensing Engine. This year, AI is the name of the game. Qualcomm says it built its new AI Engine specifically to support on-device generative AI, reducing the delay between responses and improving privacy along the way. If this tool lives up to its hype, it could give Tensor G3 a big run for its money.
In fact, looking at today’s announcement, it’s easy to confuse Qualcomm for Google. The company says its capable of the world’s fastest stable diffusion, capable of generating images in well under a second. Qualcomm demoed on-device stable diffusion with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but bringing the speed up this quick is mighty impressive. The Sensing Hub also gets some big changes with on-device personalization, giving virtual assistants the ability to securely track data like activities, location, and fitness level.
Unsurprisingly, AI extends to the Cognitive ISP this year, allowing for generative AI-powered photo and video editing through voice commands alone. It’s also hard not to see Arcsoft’s new Video Object Eraser as a shot across the bow at Google — it effectively brings thePixel’s Magic Eraser techto video captures. The same goes for Night Vision video capture, which looks to bring visible content capture to your phone no matter how dark the environment is.
Qualcomm also continues to develop its always-sensing cameras, now bringing support for two active lenses on the front and back that can search for QR codes or auto-activate face verification for faster unlocks. All this, plus improvements to both Snapdragon Sound and the modem that Qualcomm cuts its teeth on. The company is bringing 24/96 lossless audio over Bluetooth to Snapdragon phones in 2024, while the latest X75 5G modem includes — you guessed it — integrated AI hardware acceleration.
This chip will also be the first of Qualcomm’s mobile SoC’s to supportSnapdragon Seamless, a new cross-platform ecosystem initiative that aims to unify devices regardless of OEM or operating system.
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will arrive in a flagship Android device sometime in the coming weeks, seemingly implying a launch prior to the new year. It’s unclear exactly what company will launch new hardware before the holidays, but with Asus,OnePlus, Xiaomi, andOppo listed as partners in today’s announcement, the field seems open for one last gadget to end 2023. Otherwise, all eyes are onSamsung’s Galaxy S24 trioearly next year —give or take a model or two.
