Achim Maier
Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. The new flagship platform is based on a 4nm process and has a clear focus on AI, gaming, audio and video. The Gen 3 is 30% faster and 20% more efficient than the 8 Gen 2 and is further based on an eight-core architecture. The Cortex-X4 prime core runs at up to 3.3 GHz, plus five performance cores at up to 3.2 GHz and two efficiency cores with a clock speed of up to 2.3 GHz. The chipset supports up to 24 GB of LPDDR5X RAM with a maximum of 4,800 MHz as well as Wi-Fi 7 to 6 GHz and including the 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 80211be and 80211a/b/g/n standards. In addition to 5G, an X75 5G modem also handles sub-6 GHz and mmWave networks.
AI is the focus of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It all starts with the AI Engine, which supports multimodal generative AI models and large language models for speech recognition. The chip can execute up to 20 tokens per second for instantaneous AI assistant responses. The AI securely accesses personal data such as favorite activities, fitness level or location to provide better answers. Qualcomm also claims to have the world’s fastest stable diffusion, which can create an image from text in a fraction of a second.
The cameras also benefit from AI performance. Semantic segmentation can improve the vibrancy and detail of images in real time, while Night Vision brightens dark videos. There is also an object deleter for videos that removes unwanted objects or people. And Vlogger’s View can record videos from both the selfie and main cameras. Photo Expansion uses generative AI to expand an image beyond the originally captured data. And of course there are also some improvements in HDR.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 240 fps gaming
There are also various advances in gaming. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can render games on 240 Hz displays at 240 fps, competing with consoles. The Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 can generate additional frames for smoother playback and there is Unreal Engine 5.2 support. The GPU in Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is 25% faster, 25% more energy efficient and offers 40% better ray tracing. There is also lossless 24-bit 96 kHz audio via Bluetooth.
According to Qualcomm, the first devices with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will come onto the market in the coming weeks. To achieve this, the chip manufacturer has worked with Asus, Honor, iQOO, Meizu, Nio, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Redmi, Red Magic, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE.
