Qualcomm has officially unveiled its latest flagship Mobile Platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, during the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2023 event, in accordance with expectations. In comparison to its predecessor, this new iteration features a Kryo CPU equipped with five gold cores, promising a 30% improvement in performance and a 20% boost in power efficiency, thanks to the new 1-5-2 microarchitecture. The CPU configuration comprises 1 Prime core capable of reaching speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 5 Performance cores with speeds of up to 3.2 GHz, and 2 Efficiency cores operating at up to 2.3 GHz.
The enhanced Qualcomm Adreno GPU offers a 25% increase in performance and a 25% improvement in power efficiency, along with a 40% enhancement in Ray Tracing compared to its predecessor. Notably, it introduces a 1Hz Variable Refresh Rate in the Display Processing Unit (DPU) to support low-power display modes.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 provides a comprehensive suite of Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, including lifelike, multi-source lighting powered by Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing with Global Illumination, which is a groundbreaking feature in the mobile industry, made possible by Unreal Engine 5.2. Additionally, this chip supports frame rates of up to 240 FPS on 240 Hz displays.
Furthermore, it facilitates the upscaling of game scenes to 8K on external displays through Snapdragon Game Super Resolution. The Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 takes it a step further by doubling the frame rate while maintaining the same power consumption, resulting in even higher-quality scenes.
Qualcomm AI Engine -
The Qualcomm AI Engine stands out as the initial AI Engine capable of supporting multi-modal generative AI models, encompassing renowned large language models (LLM), language vision models (LVM), and transformer network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) up to 10 billion parameters—exclusively on-device.
According to the company, the world's swiftest Stable Diffusion facilitates the generation of an image within a fraction of a second. This enables the rapid creation of multiple options for selection or the instantaneous development of various social media posts. Qualcomm highlights that LLM models can operate at a rate of up to 20 tokens per second, marking one of the speediest performances in the smartphone industry. This ensures that your personal AI assistant can promptly respond to your queries.
Furthermore, the Qualcomm Sensing Hub experiences a notable 3.5x increase in AI performance, while the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU performance demonstrates a 98% acceleration, coupled with up to a 40% enhancement in performance per watt compared to the previous version.
Snapdragon Sight ISP -
The Spectra 18-bit triple Cognitive ISP is composed of a total of 12 layers. Arcsoft's Video Object Eraser, designed for video capture, is capable of removing unwanted individuals and objects. Additionally, the presence of two always-sensing cameras, situated at the front and rear, facilitates convenient QR code scanning, facial unlocking, and more.
Samsung's inaugural 200 MP image sensor, fine-tuned for Snapdragon, powers the Zoom Anyplace feature, enabling the recording of multiple videos, object tracking, and 2x and 4x zoom—all achievable in 4K resolution.
Dolby's groundbreaking HDR photo technology allows for the capture and playback of images with an expanded range of colors, tones, and shades, thus faithfully representing the complete creative vision of the photographer. Moreover, the Truepic photo capture with C2PA standard support empowers users to capture a photo with Truepic's cryptographic seal, affirming the authenticity of the image and ruling out any generative AI elements.
Through the Vlogger's View functionality, users can seamlessly share videos captured from both the selfie camera and the rear camera simultaneously, effectively immersing themselves in the action while narrating the content. Furthermore, the Photo Expansion feature intelligently extends the dimensions of a photo beyond its original capture.
Connectivity -
Featuring the Snapdragon X75 5G Modem RF System, incorporating AI hardware acceleration, Qualcomm has introduced the world's foremost 5G modem integrated with a specialized AI tensor hardware accelerator. According to Qualcomm, this innovative integration delivers enhanced speeds, extended coverage, improved mobility, heightened link robustness, and heightened location accuracy.
Additionally, the system is equipped to support Wi-Fi 7, providing speeds of up to 5.8 Gbps, and offers dual Bluetooth connectivity, ensuring a sustained and immersive experience, courtesy of the latest Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System. Furthermore, it stands as the sole Wi-Fi system supporting High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link, enabling exceptionally rapid and low-latency performance, as per Qualcomm's claims.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SM8650-AB) Specifications -
| CPU | 1 x Kryo Prime CPU (Arm Cortex-X4 based) at up to 3.3GHz, 5 x Kryo Performance CPUs (3 x Arm Cortex-A720 at up to 3.2GHz and 3 x Arm Cortex-A720 based at up to 3GHz), 2x Kryo Efficiency CPUs (Arm Cortex-A520 based) at up to 2.3GHz, ARMv9 architecture |
| Process | 4nm TSMC Process Technology |
| RAM/Storage | Support for LP-DDR5x memory up to 4800 MHz, Memory Density: Up to 24 GB |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno next-gen GPU, Vulkan 1.3 API support, HDR gaming (10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut), API Support: OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.3, Real-time Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing with Global Illumination, Support for Unreal Engine 5 Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections System, Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0, Snapdragon Game Post Processing Accelerator |
| Sensors | GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC capable, Dual Frequency GNSS (L1/L5), Sensor-Assisted 6.0,With global map aiding, Urban pedestrian navigation with sidewalk accuracy, Global freeway lane-level vehicle navigation |
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| Display | 4K at 60 Hz / QHD+ at 144 Hz, Maximum External Display Support: up to 8K @ 30 Hz, Up to 1080 @ 240 Hz, Variable Refresh Rate support for 240 Hz to 1 Hz, 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10, HDR10+, HDR vivid, and Dolby Vision |
| Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine | Qualcomm Hexagon Processor, Fused AI Accelerator, Hexagon scalar, vector, and tensor accelerators, Hexagon Direct Link, Upgraded Micro Tile Inferencing, Upgraded power delivery system, Support for mix precision (INT8+INT16), Support for all precisions (INT4, INT8, INT16, FP16) |
| Video | Hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder, HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision |
| Audio | Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, New Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier, Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), Playback: -108dB, Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite, Spatial Audio with Head Tracking |
| Network | Built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 5G modem-RF system, 5G speeds of up to 10Gpbs down, 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, mmWave: 1000 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO, Sub-6 GHz: 300 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO |
| Multi-SIM | Qualcomm 5G PowerSave Gen 4, Qualcomm Smart Transmit Gen 4 technology, Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm 5G Ultra-Low Latency Suite, Global 5G multi-SIM, including Qualcomm DSDA Gen 2 |
| Connectivity |
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| Charger | Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology |
Availability -
Qualcomm has officially announced that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform is set to be integrated into the product lines of various global OEMs and brands, including ASUS, Honor, iQOO, MEIZU, NIO, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmi, RedMagic, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE. The initial commercial devices utilizing this platform are anticipated to hit the market in the forthcoming weeks.
