Snapdragon 8 Gen 1: Meet the superchip that should power the Galaxy S22

Snapdragon 8 Gen i: Meet the superchip that should power the Galaxy S22

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm'south Snapdragon 8 Gen ane mobile chipset is hither and ready to ability the next generation of Android flagships. And it could arrive in phones sooner than you might think.

Though Qualcomm traditionally reveals its premium system-on-flake around this time every year, the silicon itself doesn't prove upwardly in phones until early on the adjacent year — normally in Samsung'southward new Milky way South flagship.

But that could be irresolute with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, as Qualcomm says that devices using the new silicon will begin to appear by the finish of 2022. With Samsung'south Galaxy S22 not expected to make an advent until February of 2022, that likely means other phones featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 are going to appear before so.

Regardless of which Android phone debuts first with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, Qualcomm is promising big advances in cameras, gaming and artificial intelligence. The emphasis on these item aspects of the mobile experience isn't an accident — they're key elements in what people look for in a mobile device, and so Qualcomm wants to establish its Snapdragon brand as the leader in those particular areas.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip held between two fingers — (Paradigm credit: Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 debuts at an interesting time for mobile processors. Last month saw the debut of Google's Pixel half-dozen lineup, the first Google phones to skip using Qualcomm silicon in favor of a new Tensor chipset developed by Google. While Tensor more or less matches the functioning of the Snapdragon 888, the predecessor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, where Google's fleck really shines is in how it uses car learning to enable features powered by on-device intelligence such as more than authentic voice dictation and superior call screening.

That, coupled with Apple'southward success producing high-performance chips for its own iPhone lineup, ratchets up the pressure on Qualcomm, long the ascendant chip maker for mobile phones. Think of the Snapdragon 8 Gen one every bit the company's first chance to answer to these challenges. Here'south what'southward new.

Snapdragon viii Gen i operation

With its accent on other parts of the Snapdragon viii Gen 1 system-on-chip, Qualcomm isn't really abode on performance gains offered by the new silicon. Still, expect the Snapdragon viii Gen 1 to meliorate upon what the Snapdragon 888 offered, even if Apple's A series chips remain the criterion champ.

For starters, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is built on a four-nanometer process, compared to the 5nm Snapdragon 888. The smaller size ways more than transistors tin can fit onto the chipset, boosting ability efficiency, and giving the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 a leg upward on its predecessor.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 broken down by components including processor, GPU, memory and other sections — (Image credit: Qualcomm)

To that end, the Kryo CPU included with the Snapdragon 8 Gen one figures to be twenty% faster and 30% more ability efficient than the Snapdragon 888. Applying that ability boost to the Geekbench five numbers we've seen from Snapdragon 888-powered phones, that could theoretically put the new flake very much in the ballpark of speed numbers produced by A15-powered iPhone 13 family. Of form, simply actual benchmarks will tell the true story. (To that end, the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 benchmarks are out, showing simply modest improvement from the Snapdragon 888.)

The Adreno GPU on the Snapdragon viii Gen 1 should see like gains over its predecessor — Qualcomm's promising a 30% comeback in speed and 25% more power savings. That should allow the Snapdragon 8 Gen one to remain the go-to silicon for the best gaming phones, though the true improvements to gaming include more than just speedier operation, as we'll discuss shortly.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 photographic camera features

Likewise the CPU and GPU, Qualcomm's system-on-chip includes an image signal processor (ISP) that powers many of the photographic camera features you'll find on smartphones. For the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm's adding an eighteen-bit ISP — a boost from the xiv-bit Isp previously featured on the Snapdragon 888. Every bit a effect, the new Internet access provider can capture 4K more photographic camera data than its predecessor for greater dynamic range, color and sharpness.

That ISP — part of what Qualcomm is billing as its Snapdragon Sight technologies — also happens to be faster. Information technology can capture images at 3.ii gigapixels per second, a heave from the 2.vii gigapixel-per-second speed found in the Snapdragon 888'due south ISP. That would permit yous to double the number of burst shots you can capture in a second to 240.

The Isp on the Snapdragon 8 Gen i supports 8K HDR video capture — Qualcomm says that's the start fourth dimension such a feature has been available on mobile — and there's a new Bokeh engine to add soft backgrounds to videos shot on mobile devices.

The Snapdragon 888 introduce a triple ISP to Qualcomm's chipsets, but in that location'due south now a fourth Internet access provider on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It'due south in that location to back up e'er-on functionality with depression-power consumption so that a phone's front camera can always be at the prepare to unlock the device when information technology detects your face.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 gaming features

Recent Snapdragon chipset introductions accept touted Qualcomm'southward Snapdragon Aristocracy Gaming features, which aim to bring desktop-quality gaming experiences to mobile devices. That's continuing with the Snapdragon eight Gen 1, which introduces a trio of noteworthy gaming-focused enhancements.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 logo on a phone held in two hands (like a gaming controller), by someone sitting on a bus

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

The new Adreno Frame Motion engine looks to boost the number of frames per second that Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 devices can churn out without an equal boost to power consumption. Qualcomm says the new characteristic tin can double the corporeality of frames while consuming the same corporeality of energy as earlier.

Volumetric rendering is a desktop-style capability brought to phones that promises to bolster the realism of certain types of graphics. Specifically, the characteristic should make effects like fog and smoke appear more realistic.

Some other gaming feature — Variable Rate Shading Pro — should entreatment to game makers. It allows them to greater control for fine-tuning game performance.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 artificial intelligence

With artificial intelligence behind an increasing number of features that smartphone users take for granted, expect Qualcomm to become into heavy detail on just how the Snapdragon viii Gen i measures upward. It starts with the 7th Gen AI Engine which doubles the operation and the size of the shared memory of the engine'south tensor accelerator. Overall, Qualcomm says the new AI Engine is 4x faster than its predecessor while improving power efficiency by 70%.

More than than just raw numbers, though, Qualcomm is talking up AI-powered experiences. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 integrates Leica Leitz Looks filters for improving bokeh effects and colors on images. Hugging Face up's natural language processing tools can analyze and prioritize any notifications your phone receives. Qualcomm too says it's working with Sonde Health to use on-device AI to analyze user voice patterns to spot whatever potential health risks, such equally asthma or low.

Snapdragon 8 Gen ane connectivity

When it appear the new naming scheme for its chipsets, Qualcomm also said it would no longer unmarried out 5G connectivity for its mobile offerings — at this point, 5G connectivity is a given. And on the Snapdragon 8 Gen one, information technology should be better than e'er.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 on a circuit board — (Image credit: Qualcomm)

The chipset features a 4th-gen Snapdragon X65 5G modem organization capable of hitting x Gbps speeds. (At present if but 5G networks would approach that theoretical speed limit.) In improver to increased support for more global networks, frequencies and bandwidths, the modem is the showtime to feature 5G uplink carrier assemblage, giving upload speeds a boost.

In addition to 5G, the Snapdragon eight Gen 1 includes Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Mobile Connectivity Organisation with support for Wi-Fi half-dozen and 6E. Wireless speeds can reach a theoretical 3.6Gbps as a upshot.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra S Pen — (Image credit: LetsGoDigital)

So far, OnePlus, Oppo, Motorola, Nubia, Sony, ZTE, Xiaomi, Honor and others take committed to featuring the new Snapdragon in their phones. Some of those phone makers have later released more details, with the Xiaomi 12 likely to be the starting time telephone to characteristic the new chipset. But Motorola beat Xiaomi to the punch, with the Edge X30 being the first phone to have the new chip. Unfortunately, information technology'due south China-just.

None of the phones mentioned above are likely to accomplish the U.South., though. But the OnePlus 10 will, and OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has confirmed that a next-generation OnePlus phone volition apply the Snapdragon viii Gen 1. We tin can only assume he's referring to the OnePlus ten.

Samsung typically uses the latest Snapdragon flagship silicon in its Galaxy S phones, and we wouldn't await the Milky way S22 to be any different. If annihilation, Qualcomm expects to be in more Milky way S phones in 2022, and you'd have to recall the Snapdragon 8 Gen ane will play a big part in that.

Snapdragon 8 Gen i outlook

Nosotros'll have to benchmark the Snapdragon 8 Gen one ourselves to see how the new chipset's performance compares to Google's Tensor and Apple's A15 Bionic bit. More importantly, we'll demand to test out a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered device to run across how the promised camera, gaming and AI improvements manifest themselves in a shipping product. That, more than annihilation, will determine whether Qualcomm can continue its place atop the mobile chip-making market.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and sometime movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.