Qualcomm announces its next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 888

[zanderthunder]

 

Normally held in Maui, Qualcomm's Snapdragon Technology Summit was held virtually this year. It kicked off today, and as usual, it started with a keynote from the company's President, Cristiano Amon. Rather than the focus on 5G that we've seen in the last few years, the topic this year was how the Snapdragon 8 series has driven the next generation of devices.

 

The key is in the number 8, because the next flagship chipset will be the Snapdragon 888. Like we've seen before, the first day of the event is to show off the new chipset, while the second day will be a deeper dive.

 

"Creating premium experiences takes a relentless focus on innovation. It takes long term commitment, even in the face of immense uncertainty," said Amon. "It takes an organization that’s focused on tomorrow, to continue to deliver the technologies that redefine premium experiences."

 

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform is the first 8-series chipset to have an integrated 5G modem; specifically, it has the Snapdragon X60, which was announced last February. The modem supports 5G carrier aggregation, global compatibility for all sub6 and mmWave bands, global multi-SIM, standalone, non-standalone, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.

 

It comes with Qualcomm's sixth-generation AI Engine with a new Hexagon processor and a second-generation Sensing Hub. The firm is promising 26 TOPS (tera operations per second). In the gaming department, Qualcomm is introducing the third generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming with more GPU performance from the new Adreno chip.

 

There's a new ISP too, which can capture 2.7 gigapixels per second, or 120 12MP photos per second. Qualcomm says that it's 35% faster than the previous generation in terms of image processing.

 

We'll learn more about the Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform at the day two keynote, which takes place at 10am Eastern Time tomorrow.

 

Source: Qualcomm announces its next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 888 (via Neowin)

[Karlston]

Qualcomm details its new premium Snapdragon 888 chipset

As Qualcomm normally does on the first day of its Snapdragon Technology Summit, it announced the Snapdragon 888 yesterday. Today is day two, and that means that it's time for the deeper dive on new features.

 

Once again, the CPU is octa-core, but it's a new architecture. The prime Kryo 680 core is 2.84GHz, and it's based on the new Cortex-X1. The three secondary big cores are Cortex-A78 and clocked at 2.4GHz. Finally, the four small cores are 1.8GHz and Cortex-A55. Qualcomm is promising 25% better performance and 25% better efficiency from the new CPU, although keep in mind that those numbers don't apply to the whole chipset.

 

Next up is the Adreno 660 GPU. Qualcomm says that it will deliver 35% faster graphics rendering, and it's 20% more power efficient. The company doesn't disclose clock speeds on anything except for the CPU. There are also display enhancements included though, including OLED display uniformity and sub-pixel rendering.

 

A big thing that Qualcomm is pushing in the Snapdragon 888 is the sixth-generation Qualcomm AI Engine, which includes the new Hexagon 780 processor. The Hexagon 780 has 16 times the dedicated memory, fused AI accelerators, and it promises three times the performance-per-watt. The AI Engine is capable of 26 TOPS, combined with the second-generation Sensing Hub. The Sensing Hub actually has its own dedicated AI processor.

 

Next up is the Spectra 580 ISP, and for the first time, it's a triple ISP, with support for staggered HDR sensors. It can capture 2.7 gigapixels per second, making it 35% faster than its predecessor. Thanks to the triple ISP, it can capture up to three 28MP images at the same time. And with the Snapdragon 888, you'll be able to capture 10-bit HEIF photos, in over a billion shades of color.

 

And then, of course, there's the Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System, offering downlink speeds of up to 7.5Gbps and uplink speeds of up to 3Gbps. It supports sub6 and third-generation mmWave, but a major improvement is that this time, it's finally integrated into the chipset. With the Snapdragon 865, OEMs had to buy the 5G modem separately, increasing costs and decreasing efficiency.

 

Just as you'd expect, you'll start seeing devices with the Snapdragon 888 hit the market in the first quarter of 2021.

 

 

Qualcomm details its new premium Snapdragon 888 chipset