Tech Desk
Aug 19, 2024
Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip is rumoured to prioritise energy efficiency over raw central processing unit (CPU) performance. This shift in focus aims to provide longer battery life and reduced power consumption while maintaining solid performance.
The chip is expected to be announced during Qualcomm's annual Snapdragon Summit in October.
What is Snapdragon 8 Gen 4?
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is Qualcomm's latest flagship chip, expected to power high-end smartphones from top brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Samsung. It's rumoured to come in two variants: standard (SM8750) and performance-focused (SM8750P).
The standard variant would power flagship phones from various brands, while the performance variant is likely to be reserved for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Key features Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
- Built using TSMC's 3nm process for reduced power consumption
- Qualcomm's custom Oryon CPU cores for improved performance
- Low-Power Artificial Intelligence subsystem and Qualcomm Sensing Hub for enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities
- Adreno 830 GPU for better graphics performance
- Qualcomm Spectra ISP for improved camera capabilities
- Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 modem for faster connectivity
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip will come in a 2+6 cores configuration, with two high-performance cores clocked at 4.0 GHz, and six efficiency-type cores clocked at 2.8 GHz.
It's configuration greatly emphasises efficiency over raw CPU performance, hence providing more battery life and less power consumption. Therefore, it would provide better battery life to smartphones without any compromise in performance.
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Featuring on-device AI performance, these enhancements would surely include support for always-on audio and sensor features. The AI performance of the chip is also expected to support enhanced camera features, gaming, and the overall user experience.
While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip swings towards the efficiency scale, it would still offer good performance. Its semi-custom Oryon CPU cores and Adreno 830 graphics processing unit (GPU) would also be optimised for smoother gaming and graphics.
