Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is now official: Everything you need to know
It is customary for Qualcomm to release a “Plus” version of its flagship chips. Today, Qualcomm has officially unveiled its new premium chip: Snapdragon 8+ Gen1.
According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is the engine of premium Android experiences and the new iteration supposedly offers Comprehensive improvements to CPU/GPU performance and power efficiency.
The new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 offers 10% faster CPU and GPU clock rates. The peak clock of the Kryo CPU on the Prime ARM Cortex-X2 core can now reach 3.2 GHz compared to 3 GHz on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
The Adreno 730 GPU is also now 10% faster with features like volumetric rendering for more realistic fog and smoke effects.
Despite the rise of the clocks, Qualcomm claims that energy efficiency has been improved by up to 30% with the Kryo CPU and power consumption has been reduced by up to 30% with the Adreno GPU.
The original Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has been criticized for the high amount of heat it generates. Switching to TSMC’s 4nm process could help improve this aspect.
Qualcomm has also claimed that it has improved the artificial intelligence of the 8+ Gen 1. The SoC features a 7th generation Qualcomm AI engine that enables features such as simultaneous bokeh effects and face tracking during photography.
Apparently the AI feature now offers a 20% improvement in performance per watt. There’s also a 3rd-gen Qualcomm Sensing Hub that enables low-power AI without affecting battery life.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 offers a Triple Spectra 18-bit ISPwhich, according to the company, can process 4,000 times more data from the camera, while also allowing 8K HDR video recording and captures from the 64 MP camera.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is capable of capturing 3.2 gigapixels per second and can take and merge 30 images at once to improve low-light photos.
It is also capable of streaming lossless audio over Bluetooth using Snapdragon Sound. Snapdragon Sound includes aptX lossless audio and LE with the ability to last over 17 hours of music playback.
Some benchmark results
In Geekbench 5 single-core processor, we see that the 8+ Gen 1 is 17% faster than an 8 Gen 1, the 888 Plus and the Exynos 2200, while almost tying the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 benchmarks.
In multi-core, the 8+ Gen 1 is more or less comparable to the average of the 8 Gen 1 and the Dimensity 9000 while having a 15% advantage over the Exynos 2200. The Apple A15 Bionic leads both tests not surprisingly, but the 8+ Gen 1 helps reduce the difference noticeably compared to the 8 Gen 1.
The 8+ Gen 1 leads the charts AnTuTu with 14% and 37% more performance than the 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200, respectively. However, the Dimensity 9000 reference is not far behind. The AnTuTu scores of the A15 Bionic are provided for reference only and are not comparable with the Android version.
Otherwise, we see good improvements in the hbenchmarks that put the 8+ Gen 1 just behind the A15 Bionic.
The upgraded Adreno 730 GPU appears to offer tangible benefits in GFXBench, particularly in Vulcan. The Adreno 730 now appears to be 44% faster in GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 Offscreen and 34% faster than the A15 Bionic’s GPU. The Dimensity 9000 falls behind by 16% in this test.
GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 Offscreen seems to offer even bigger improvements compared to the GPU of the 8 Gen 1 and the A15 Bionic. The Exynos 2200 trails the 8+ Gen 1 by 33% in this test.
When will we see it on smartphones?
Devices powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 are expected to be available from Q3 2022 from many manufacturers including Asus ROG, Xiaomi BlackShark, Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme , RedMagic, Redmi, Xiaomi, Vivo and ZTE, among others.
