Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Announced | Flagship Chipset for 2022

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Processor is one of the widely used mobile processors in smartphones. MediaTek is the only company to give head-to-head competition of Snapdragon in Android smartphones. Recently, MediaTek had announced Dimensity 9000 5G as the flagship processor and now, Qualcomm has made Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 official as their flagship mobile processor for 2022. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Overview

Last year, Qualcomm had announced Snapdragon 888, used in the OnePlus 9 Pro,  as the most advanced mobile processor, and as its successor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has arrived. According to the trend, the new processor should have been named Snapdragon 888 and the company decided to change the naming scheme and removed the style of the triple digits. 

Now, the name of the processor will lack the term ‘Qualcomm” and generations will be used instead of numbers. Now, let’s discuss the new architecture and upgrades it brings over the predecessor. 

Architecture of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is an octa-core processor based on Samsung’s 4nm process. FYI, MediaTek Dimensity 9000 5G also used a 4nm process, the world’s first mobile chipset to do so. This new Snapdragon processor has used the latest Arm v9 architecture with the combination of the following core:

• 1 Cortex-X2 Prime (3.0GHz)
• 3 Cortex-A710 (2.5GHz)
• 4 Cortex-A510 (1.80GHz)

After the architecture, we move on to the features and upgrades Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 brings on paper but we have to wait for the smartphones to arrive in the commercial world to test their actual power. 

Graphics: When winning matters most

The graphical power in Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is unreal as it arrives with 25% more efficiency and delivers 30% faster graphics rendering than the previous Snapdragon 888 chipset. This processor GPU has control over how games will run in smartphones with fine-tuning. 

Related Article:

• Best Budget Gaming Phones in Nepal
• Best Midrange Camera Phones in Nepal

Connectivity: Industry-leading Wi-Fi, Audio & The next 5G era 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is focused on 5G as it’s the big thing in 2022 and it arrives with 4th Gen Snapdragon X65, the world’s first 10 Gigabit 5G Modem-RF solution. This processor is compatible with mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G spectrum.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has Wi-Fi 6 and 6E with lightning-fast speeds up to up to 3.6 Gbps, all thanks to the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 System. Furthermore, it supports Bluetooth 5.2,  Bluetooth LE Audio Features, and Snapdragon Sound technology for 16-bit 44.1kHz CD Lossless wireless music streaming. 

Photography/IPS: Go beyond pro

With the introduction of Snapdragon Sight, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 brings the first-ever 18-bit ISP(Image Signal Processor). As Snapdragon 888 had a 14-bit ISP, this new processor can process up to 4,096 times more camera data. 

Videography features are also astonishing in this chipset as it can capture 8K video with HDR 10 Plus and shoot in 18-bit RAW. Well, to use these features, the smartphone should also have enough camera hardware. With new and better AI, it has improved auto-exposure, auto-focus, and auto-face detection technology, a dedicated bokeh engine. 

AI for All

The use of AI in smartphones is growing exponentially and to tackle this, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 arrives with powerful AI. The 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine used in this processor can process up to 4x faster AI than the previous one. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Powered Smartphones

Its been a few days since the announcement of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the majority of smartphone brands have already confirmed tier upcoming smartphones with this chipset. Some of the confirmed smartphones to feature this Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor are:

• Samsung Galaxy S22 Series
• Xiaomi 12
• Redmi K50 Pro
• OnePlus 10 Pro
• Find X3 Pro
• Realme GT 2 Pro
• Moto Edge 30 Ultra

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Specifications

• Process: Samsung 4nm process
• Core Architecture:
  • 1 Cortex-X2 Prime (3.0GHz)
  • 3 Cortex-A710 (2.5GHz)
  • 4 Cortex-A510 (1.80GHz)
• Cellular Modem-RF:
  • Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System
  • Peak Download Speed: 10 Gbps
  • Multi-SIM: Global 5G Multi-SIM
• Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11ax, Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ac, 802.11a/b/g/n
  • Peak Speed: 3.6 Gbps
• Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 5.2
  • Dual Bluetooth antennas, LE Audio Features, Snapdragon Sound technology suite
• Memory:
  • Memory Speed: 3200 MHz
  • Memory Type: LPDDR5
• Display:
  • 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz
  • HDR10+, HDR10
• Camera:
  • Single Camera: Up to 200 MP
  • 8K HDR Video Capture + 64 MP Photo Capture