Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4: When’s it coming and what to anticipate?

We would have made it via most of 2024’s main smartphone bulletins, however we’re shortly approaching processor season. Qualcomm is gearing as much as launch the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, the successor to 2023’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that powers most of immediately’s high-end Android telephones.

However simply what does the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 have in retailer for our next-gen smartphones? Right here’s every little thing we all know in regards to the new chip, the most popular rumors, and when you may anticipate the official particulars.

Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will launch at its annual Snapdragon Summit, going down from October 21-23. That’s proper across the identical time because the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 launched final yr. The primary smartphones powered by the brand new chip will probably seem within the days and weeks after launch, however availability is one other query.

Usually, some manufacturers launch new telephones earlier than the top of the yr, with some manufacturers even launching units within the days after the summit. Nonetheless, these launches are typically restricted to China, so it might probably take a while earlier than these telephones make their method to international markets. ASUS, OnePlus, Xiaomi, ZTE, and others will little doubt be fast to announce telephones sporting probably the most highly effective Qualcomm chip to this point.

Probably the most high-profile launch that includes a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset would be the Samsung Galaxy S25, however that’s not scheduled till Q1 2025. This may probably debut as a barely higher-clocked “Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for Galaxy,” as has been the case for the previous two years.

We gained’t know all of the ins and outs till the launch date, however Qualcomm’s Don McGuire has already confirmed a major change with this coming era. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will probably be Qualcomm’s first cellular processor powered by its Oryon CPU expertise. That’s the identical structure utilized in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips that energy the primary wave of Copilot Plus PCs.

This alteration is an enormous deal for a number of causes. First, it marks a return to customized CPU cores for cellular — based mostly on the Arm structure — slightly than shopping for and tweaking Arm Cortex CPU elements. Qualcomm stopped constructing CPU cores again with Krait and its first-gen Kryo, opting to customise Arm-designed cores for the higher a part of the final decade as a substitute.

Transferring again to totally customized provides Qualcomm far more management over the efficiency, energy, and have design of the CPU core. On this sense, it’s put Snapdragon again on the course charted by Apple, which additionally licenses the Arm structure for customized CPUs.

That stated, we don’t but know if the brand new CPU setup will probably be extra highly effective and/or energy environment friendly than rival Arm elements. Distilling an structure designed for servers and PCs all the way down to cellular energy constraints isn’t any easy feat, and it is a first-gen try. It ought to have highly effective single-core efficiency, however at what power price? As a part of this compromise, rumors level to 2 higher-clocked “Phoenix” cores and 6 lower-clocked “Phoenix M” cores, eschewing the now-common tri-cluster design.

How the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 stacks up efficiency and effectivity clever will probably be an enormous speaking level within the coming months. It’s more likely to be constructed on a cutting-edge TSMC node (reportedly 3nm), however its CPU design could be very completely different from Google’s Tensor, Samsung’s Exynos, and MediaTek’s Dimensity, and can probably produce fairly completely different outcomes.

One main concern is pricing. Qualcomm already instructed us at 2023’s Snapdragon Summit that it expects the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 to be costlier than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. A number of leaks additionally level to greater pricing, with leaker Digital Chat Station claiming in late September that the chipset might price roughly $190. This might be roughly 20% costlier than the earlier era. Will telephone makers move these prices on to shoppers? We’ll simply have to attend and see, nevertheless it appears probably.

The brand new CPU design will probably be a significant speaking level with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, however in typical Qualcomm vogue, we should always anticipate loads of different enhancements, too.

Early benchmarks are notoriously unreliable, however there’s been loads of chatter across the chip’s new GPU. The mid-range Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 debuted a brand new graphics structure (dubbed the Adreno 810) that boosted efficiency by 45% over the last-gen. The 8 Gen 4’s rumored Adreno 830 GPU is alleged to supply important effectivity and efficiency positive aspects over final yr’s mannequin. Hopefully, it will result in better-sustained graphics efficiency, our chief criticism with fashionable Snapdragon platforms.

AI, after all, is a big buzzword and can undoubtedly kind a core a part of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 announcement. Based on a important leak, the brand new processor will sport a revamped Hexagon Tensor Processor with new matrix in addition to vector math assist. This will probably be accompanied by a low-power AI subsystem, sporting a DSP, eNPU, always-sensing digicam chip, Sensing Hub, and Qualcomm’s standard picture sign processor smarts.

We all know Qualcomm’s chips already assist Google’s Gemini Nano for on-device AI, and these new adjustments will virtually definitely be geared in the direction of working much more superior fashions with out the cloud. The large unknown is how simple will probably be for builders to faucet into these new sources.

Qualcomm has already debuted its Snapdragon X80 modem, which can probably be built-in into the brand new chip. Key highlights embrace built-in NB-NTN (satellite tv for pc) assist, slightly than requiring exterior silicon, 10% energy consumption discount for mmWave functions, 30% higher location accuracy, and assist for 6x 5G service aggregation.

Placing all of it collectively, Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is shaping as much as be its most attention-grabbing and thrilling chipset announcement lately. It appears to be like poised to usher in a brand new period of efficiency and top-class options. We don’t have lengthy to attend to see if this pans out.