Qualcomm has launched its latest Android flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Qualcomm is the largest producer of smartphone processors which is majorly known for its Snapdragon lineup. In the smartphone market, Snapdragon processors are well-known for being performance-driven processors with great AI and graphics capabilities. The latest, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is no different as Qualcomm has again broken all benchmark records set by other smartphone chip manufacturers such as Mediatek, Apple, and Samsung. Qualcomm has said that the processor is ready to be shipped in Android phones, and people will be able to see Android smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip by the end of 2022.
Qualcomm has made some promising claims regarding the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip which is enough to get excited for the smartphones which will be coming with it in the next month or so. Qualcomm’s first claim is about the CPU performance of the new chip. Qualcomm has said that they have upped the CPU performance by almost 35% while making the chip 40% more power efficient than the current flagship processors. The GPU has received a significant upgrade as Qualcomm has claimed that the updated GPU will provide 25% faster performance while having 45% higher power efficiency. These claims suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will provide exceptional performance while keeping power consumption significantly low. But one should keep in mind that these numbers are taken at almost perfect conditions which are almost impossible to replicate during day-to-day use. But despite this, these claims are promising enough to continue offering a leading edge to Qualcomm over its competitors.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is made using a 4 nanometers framework which has four distinct CPU cores designed by ARM. These four CPU cores all have different processing power and functions. The primary core in Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is 3.2 GHz Arm Cortex X3. ARM, the manufacturer of 3.2 GHz Arm Cortex X3 has a recommended layout for this chip, which is supposed to be followed while making a processor. This recommended layout suggests using three Cortex A710 CPUs and four A510 CPUs. The Cortex A710 CPU is used for performing tasks that demand medium power usage while the A510 CPU is useful for handling tasks that demand low power usage or in background processing. But instead of this suggested layout, Qualcomm has chosen to go with rather an unusual route of using two Cortex-A715 CPUs and two last-generation Cortex-A710 CPUs. Along with these, Qualcomm has used only three of the A510 CPUs, instead of recommended four.
This means that to handle the background and low-power tasks, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has only three cores. It is being said that Qualcomm’s reason behind adding the Cortex-A710 CPU into the mix is to have 32-bit support. Although this is not a problem for the global market, it is a massive deal for China’s smartphone market, where many services still require 32-bit support. Now it will be worth seeing which OEM will be the first to launch the smartphone with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. So far, Xiaomi and Motorola seem to be ahead in this race.
