The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset was unveiled by Qualcomm at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii on Tuesday. Qualcomm’s latest mobile processor aims to deliver the highest performance with updates such as on-device generative artificial intelligence (AI) and multimodal artificial intelligence, Hexagon’s dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU), second-generation custom software. – built-in Qualcomm Oryon processor and advanced AI image signal processing (ISP). With these features, the Snapdragon 8 Elite claims to bring a huge leap in performance over its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Availability of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
Qualcomm says flagship Android devices powered by its latest Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC will be available in the coming weeks. The chip will be used for flagship devices by global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Asus, Honor, iQOO, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi.
Specifications of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with the model number SM8750-AB ranks above the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as its newest mobile processor for flagship devices. The chip is built on a 64-bit architecture based on a 3-nanometer manufacturing process and features a custom-designed second-generation Qualcomm Oryon octa-core processor with a maximum clock speed of 4.32 GHz.
It is claimed to deliver a 45 percent improvement in both single-core and multi-core performance, while web browsing is also improved by 62 percent. Qualcomm says that devices with this chipset will support RAM up to LPDDR5x and UFS 4.0 storage. It also offers Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite solution for creating cinematic-quality 3D environments in smartphone games.
Snapdragon 8 Elite features Qualcomm Adreno GPU and advanced Hexagon NPU as part of Qualcomm AI Engine, both of which contribute to 40 percent better gaming performance and 35 percent improved ray tracing. The chipset supports built-in artificial intelligence, multimodal capabilities, and longer marker input, accepting voice prompts, text, images, and even live prompts. Qualcomm claims a 45 percent increase in overall AI performance, while the same increase applies to chipset performance per watt. However, it is also more efficient. The chipmaker says the Snapdragon 8 Elite is 27 percent more energy efficient than its predecessor.
For connectivity, the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC is equipped with a Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 system with support for Wi-Fi 7 in the 6 GHz, 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz spectrum bands and Bluetooth 5.4. The latest chip is equipped with a Snapdragon X80 5G modem radio. The mobile platform is said to feature a dedicated Tensor AI Accelerator that can achieve multi-gigabit 5G speeds in more locations with the first 4×6 MIMO solution.
Smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip will be able to support up to 320-megapixel camera sensors, with the chipset featuring a triple 18-bit ISP Spectra AI setup that offers AI-powered auto-exposure, auto-focus, and face detection. and other features. It supports video recording and playback up to 8K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps). In addition, it has a new Qualcomm AI ISP that combines with the NPU, enabling features such as limitless semantic segmentation at 4K resolution, video object erasure, and real-time skin and sky adjustments with Insight AI.
The chip also supports built-in displays with a maximum resolution of QHD with a refresh rate of up to 240 Hz and 10-bit color depth.
According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Elite supports satellite systems such as QZSS, Galileo, Beidou, GLONASS, NavIC, and GPS with lane-level and pavement-level accuracy, as well as tri-frequency support. It gets touchscreen navigation and parallel satellite system features. In addition, it provides support for Quick Charge 5 via USB Type-C. The SoC also supports fingerprint recognition with a dedicated sensor, thanks to Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Sensor Max support. In addition, it also comes with biometric support for voice, face and iris authentication.