Tag: Qualcomm

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Details about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset leak

Details regarding Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, have leaked online. It looks like the chip will use new cores from Arm and potentially drop 32-bit support entirely.

The information comes from leaker Kuba Wojciechowski, who shared the details in a Twitter thread. Wojciechowski has previously leaked details of Pixel hardware.

According to Wojciechowski, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is codenamed either ‘Lanai’ or ‘Pineapple.’ The chip will reportedly adopt a 2+3+2+1 layout, differing from the 8 Gen 2’s 1+4+3 layout.

The new configuration breaks down as follows, according to Wojciechowski:

  • 2x Arm codename Hayes (A5xx) “silver” cores
    3x Arm codename Hunter (A7xx) “gold” cores
    2x Arm codename Hunter (A7xx) “titanium” cores
    1x Arm codename Hunter ELP (Xn) “gold+” core

Wojciechowski goes on to note the 8 Gen 3 is the first Qualcomm chip to introduce a ‘titanium’ cluster, but he doesn’t have information on what’s different with the cores. Wojciechowski suggests the cores could have different configurations, like higher cache, or different clock speeds.

He says that the Hunter and Hayes chips are brand new, unannounced CPU cores and that they drop support for 32-bit entirely. That means the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will be 64-bit only — a significant shift, but one that’s been a long-time coming. Previous leaks suggested Google’s upcoming Pixel Tablet would be 64-bit only, and Google has required apps on the Play Store to use 64-bit architecture for a while.

Finally, Wojciechowski said the 8 Gen 3 will sport an Adreno 750 GPU, which currently has a maximum frequency of 770MHz. The 8 Gen 3 will also support Linux kernel 6.1 and Android 14.

We’ll likely learn more about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 when Qualcomm unveils it later this year. In the past, Qualcomm held a tech summit in December to unveil its new chips, but last year the event was in November, and rumour has it Qualcomm could reveal the Gen 3 in October this year.

Header credit: Shutterstock

Source: Wojciechowski Via: 9to5Google

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Samsung Electronics reported to create in-house CPUs for future phones

LONDON, UK – FEBRUARY 20, 2020: Samsung tech brand leterring logo in Harrods shopping mall.

Apple and Pixel smartphones both use in-house chipsets, but Samsung still relies on Qualcomm for its chips with most of its devices, and its in-house Exynos chips have always performed worse and are less efficient in most cases.

With that in mind, Samsung could be looking to build its own custom CPU, according to a Business Korea report. Samsung’s electronics division has even gone so far as to create a new internal team to spearhead its custom CPU design efforts.

The new in-house CPU could appear in 2027 alongside the Galaxy S27 series, considering that Samsung continues to name the S series numerically.

Samsung’s previous in-house designed Mongoose CPU cores in Exynos SoCs (System-on-Chip) were powerful but too power-hungry and inefficient compared to what Qualcomm had to offer, resulting in the company killing off its CPU design team and laying off over 300 developers from its R&D facility in Austin, Texas.

Now, Samsung has beefed up efforts to develop its next-generation system-on-chips (SoCs), likely called the Galaxy chip. With an in-house CPU, Samsung aims to optimize the SoCs for its devices, leading to superior performance and battery life.

Despite the renewed interest in custom CPU development, Samsung has gone all in on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip across all markets for its Samsung Galaxy S23 series. The Samsung S23 series preorders have already squashed S22 sales in multiple markets.

The chip used in the S23 series delivers exceptional performance and efficiency compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Samsung will likely continue using Qualcomm’s chips until its in-house custom CPUs are ready for primetime.

Source: Business Korea Via: Android Police

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple could replace Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular modem with in-house chips in 2025

Apple has long been working to replace components in its devices with its own chips, most notably aiming to replace the Qualcomm 5G modem with its own modem. According to new details published by Bloomberg‘s reliable Mark Gurman, Apple could drop a key Broadcom component in 2025, while its modem chip could be ready for late 2024 or early 2025.

Gurman cites people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The Broadcom component in question handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on Apple devices. Apple has started developing its in-house replacement and aims to use it in devices in 2025. Moreover, Apple is reportedly working on a follow-up chip that would combine Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular modem capabilities into a single component.

Apple is Broadcom’s largest customer and accounted for roughly 20 percent of the company’s revenue in the last fiscal year, Gurman reported.

Meanwhile, Apple’s work on a cellular modem has been moving along slowly. Rumours have swirled for years about Apple’s plan to replace Qualcomm chips in the iPhone with an in-house modem chip, and the company supposedly planned to make the transition this year. However, Apple reportedly delayed the switch after encountering issues with overheating, battery life, and more.

Gurman reports that Qualcomm received 22 percent of its annual sales from Apple.

If these details are accurate, it sounds like the 2025 iPhone could offer some significant changes in the wireless connectivity department. However, given Apple’s troubles with the in-house modem chip so far, it’s possible that other delays could push back the company’s plans. It also remains to be seen what, if any, benefit Apple’s in-house chips would bring. If Apple fails to make its chips at least as good as the components from Broadcom and Qualcomm, it could make the iPhone less compelling compared to other phones.

Source: Bloomberg

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm to take on Apple’s Emergency SOS with Snapdragon Satellite

At CES 2023, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Satellite, a two-way smartphone messaging solution. The service will start with devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform.

The feature relies on the Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF systems and the Iridium satellite constellation. Qualcomm said in a press release that the solution uses Iridium’s weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink. Qualcomm also plans to support 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) as it becomes available.

Qualcomm plans for emergency messaging on Snapdragon Satellite to be available in select regions in the second half of 2023.

Moreover, Qualcomm says Snapdragon Satellite can expand to other devices, including laptops, tablets, vehicles, and IoT.

Snapdragon Satellite appears to be Qualcomm’s attempt to take on Apple’s Emergency SOS feature that launched on the iPhone 14. Emergency SOS came to Canada in November, and it has already proven helpful in the U.S., helping save a stranded snowmobiler and people who fell into a canyon.

You can find all of our coverage from CES 2023 here.

Image credit: Qualcomm

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Here are some phones confirmed to launch with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Qualcomm recently announced its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset at its Snapdragon Summit, and now, some Android manufacturers confirmed they will add the new CPU to their smartphones.

According to 9to5Google, a few OEMs have confirmed that they’ll have the chipset, while others are expected to feature the flagship processor. It’s worth noting that most devices on this list won’t come to Canada, unfortunately.

Vivo has already launched the first smartphone using this chipset, the X90 Pro Plus. However, this phone will not come out in Canada. In a recent Weibo post, OnePlus confirmed that the 11 series will sport the Qualcomm silicon.

Xiaomi has also said on Weibo that its 13 series will sport the 8 Gen 2 chip as well. Motorola has teased its new X40 with a new phone silhouette on Weibo and confirmed that it will sport the chipset.

RedMagic also confirmed on Weibo that the RedMagic 8 Pro will also use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. IQ00, another brand, has also been confirmed via the China-based social media site to feature the processor.

Out of all the phones above, only OnePlus’ devices will come to Canada.

Samsung hasn’t said whether this phone will sport the new chipset; however, each year, its S series always launches with the latest Qualcomm processor in North America.

Source: 9to5Google

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Benchmarking Qualcomm’s new 8 Gen 2 chipset

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor at its annual Snapdragon Summit, which will be in many flagship handsets in 2023, including the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Knowing this, when the semiconductor company gave us the opportunity to benchmark the processor, MobileSyrup jumped at the chance.

It’s always worth noting that benchmarks don’t always translate into real-life experiences. For instance, the Pixel 7 Pro benchmarks lower than the S22 Ultra, but both are great devices in their own way. Also, keep in mind that these tests were performed on a Qualcomm reference design device, which was likely designed to run benchmarks. It featured 12GB of RAM (11.85GB to be exact), a 1080 x 2400-pixel resolution display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 3,550mAh battery.

The most important benchmark we performed was Geekbench 5. This is typically the standard for what we use in our smartphone reviews. The chip achieved a single-core score of 1,489 and a multi-core score of 5,178. To compare, the S22+ with an 8 Gen 1 processor had a single-core score of 1,213 and a multi-core score of 3,446. Further, the Fold 4 with an 8+ Gen 1 had a single-core score of 1,275 and a multi-core score of 3,812.

Typically, Apple’s A-series Bionic chips perform the best in Geekbench, with the most recent A16 Bionic scoring a single-core score of 1,868 and a multi-core score of 5,542. While Qualcomm’s chipset is catching up to the A16, it still hasn’t matched Apple’s chip.

We also performed a few other benchmarking tests. With Antutu, we saw a CPU score of 274,382 and a GPU score of 569,194. It also has an overall Wild Life Extreme (which measures graphics) score of 3,769 with a 22.60 FPS.

After we performed all these tests, the phone remained at a cool 35-degree Celsius.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Niantic and Qualcomm show off reference design AR glasses

At the 2022 Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm and Niantic have announced their partnership with one another for an immersive glasses experience.

While the companies haven’t mentioned anything regarding a release date for a consumer product, Niantic has showed off reference designs for AR glasses.

The most recent design looks sleek, and lightweight, which is due to the recently announced Snapdragon AR2 platform. The new platform, which Qualcomm says it built from the ground up, will reportedly allow hardware makers to release thinner AR glasses.

And Niantic announced that in 2023 the LightShip visual positioning system will work with the Snapdragon Spaces XR developer platform with the hope to help developers create future experiences. This means that developers using the Snapdragon Spaces XR developer platform can easily add the Lightship system to their games or experiences.

Following this explanation, Niantic gave us a glimpse of what this experience could look like.

You can learn more about Qualcomm’s AR2 processor, click here.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon AR2, S5 and S3 Gen 2 platforms

At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit, the company unveiled not only Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but also Snapdragon AR2, a new mobile computing platform and updated S5 and S3 Gen 2 sound platforms.

Augmented Reality

Starting with AR2 Gen 1 Platform, the company designed the chip for upcoming XR (mixed reality) glasses. The new platform, which Qualcomm says it built from the ground up, will reportedly allow hardware makers to release thinner AR glasses.

The smart glasses’ main processor occupies a 40 percent smaller PCB area on-glass and delivers 2.5x better AI performance. It also consumes 50 percent less power, allowing the AR glasses to use less than 1W of power. Qualcomm says that this will enable rich AR experiences on glasses that can be worn comfortably for hours.

To help create smaller glasses arms, Snapdragon AR2 uses a multi-chip architecture that includes an AR processor and a co-processor, which distribute the processing of latency-sensitive perception data directly on the glasses and then offload more complex data processing requirements to a Snapdragon-powered phone or PC.

The AR processor uses a dedicated hardware acceleration engine to improve user motion tracking and localization and an AI accelerator to reduce latency for sensitive input interactions, including hand tracking or 6DoF. Further, the connectivity platform uses Qualcomm Fast Connect 7800 connectivity system to unlock WiFi 7 technology and reach less than 2ms latency between the AR glasses and the phone.

Companies like LG, Lenovo, Nreal, TCL, Sharp, Oppo and more are working with Qualcomm to create smart glasses.

Sound Platforms

Qualcomm’s S5 Gen 2 and S3 Gen 2 Sound platforms are feature-rich, ultra-lower power platforms and add new features to Snapdragon Sound, which include spatial audio with dynamic head-tracking, improved lossless music streaming and 48ms latency between phone and earbud for lag-free gaming. Additionally, the platforms offer third-generation Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation that improves the listener experience by adapting to both in-ear fit and the external environment.

The platforms also feature adaptive active noise cancellation that includes Adaptive Transparency mode with automatic speech detection and support smooth transitions between immersive noise-cancelling. Expect Qualcomm S5 and S3 Gen 2 sound platforms in devices in the second half of 2023.

Mobile Computing

Finally, Qualcomm and Microsoft are collaborating with new AI-accelerated experiences for Windows 11 with Windows Studio Effects Voice Focus, Background Blur, Automatic Framing and Eye Contact. The Surface 9 Pro 5G also features the Microsoft SQ3 powered by Snapdragon.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with new camera, gaming and audio features

At Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit, the company unveiled its latest chipset technology, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This new chip will be available in new flagship Android devices throughout the year, including Canada’s version of Samsung’s S23 series.

However, Qualcomm is working with companies like Asus, Motorola, OnePlus and ZTE, so the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be featured in several more devices by the end of the year.

Qualcomm says that Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s upgraded Hexagon Processor offers its most advanced Qualcomm AI Engine ever, with features like multi-language translation and transcription, advanced AI Cinematic video and its Sensing Hub, which offers dual-AI processors for the first time, with new experiences like direct-to-app voice assistance to control your favourite apps. Further, you should expect 4.35x faster AI performance and Micro Tile Inferencing.

With the 8 Gen 2, you should expect better camera performance in devices sporting the chip. The 8 Gen 2 is also compatible with 200-megapixel photo capture, which is rumoured to be coming to the upcoming S23 Ultra. Further, expect 8K HDR video capture in 10-bit HDR.

This is also the first Snapdragon platform with AI-powred Always Sensing Camera. The Always-Sensing Camera offers features like allowing the camera to scan QR codes with the phone being turned off, and a new privacy option which kills notifications if it notices a secondary person looking at your phone. Qualcomm says this Always-Sensing Camera technology is entirely on-device and in its Sensing Hub. The company also added a second AI processor to the chip that increased AI performance by 2x and features 50 percent more memory.

Away from the camera, the Sensing Hub will also support experiences that enable custom wake words, and additional features from the Qualcomm AI Stack, including AI Studio, to allow developers to create even better next-gen AI apps.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supports Unreal Engine 5 and Metahuman framework for realistic human characters. It also features Vulkan 1.3 API that supports Ray Tracing. With its Ray Tracing capabilities, the 8 Gen 2 can bring lifelike lighting effects like shadows, reflections and illumination to your games. The Adreno GPU offers up to 25 percent faster performance with up to 45 percent better power efficiency. Kryo CPU improves performance by up to 35 percent, while new micro-architecture allows up to 40 percent more power efficiency.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 also brings HDR Vivid, a China-based standard in addition to HDR 10, HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision.

The 8 Gen 2 sports Snapdragon X70 5G Modem RF System, the world’s first and only mobile platform with a dedicated 5G AI processor. Additionally, it works with Wi-Fi 7 due to its Fast Connect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System. Also, expect blazing speeds of up to 5.8Gbps, which is more than double than Wi-Fi 6. It features 5G Dual-SIM Dual-Active, which lets you simultaneously use two 5G SIM cards, alongside enhanced Face Unlock for its security.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 supports spatial audio with dynamic head tracking for ultra-immersive gaming and multimedia experiences. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supports 48kHz lossless music streaming technology and the lowest-ever latency at 48ms for better gaming.

Image credit: Qualcomm

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm to keep supplying modems for iPhones in 2023

Qualcomm expects to continue providing the “vast majority” of modem chips for iPhones in 2023 amid Apple’s ongoing struggle to get in-house modem chips off the ground.

Per a Bloomberg report, Qualcomm previously expected to provide roughly 20 percent of the 5G modem parts for the 2023 iPhones. However, according to comments from the company’s recent earnings report, Qualcomm thinks it will retain its current foothold, noting that Apple won’t move to its in-house modem design for the 2023 iPhones.

Several reports pegged 2023 as the year Apple would ship an iPhone sporting an in-house 5G modem, which the company has been working on for years. Apple and Qualcomm settled a lawsuit in 2019, and Apple began using the company’s modems in iPhones again, but also started work on its own modem to eventually replace Qualcomm’s. However, a Bloomberg report from July 2022 said Apple’s modem efforts had so far failed, in part due to an overheating issue.

Now, Apple’s modem timeline could see in-house modems in iPhones in 2024.

Despite the good news for Qualcomm on the continued use of its modems in iPhones, the company is still struggling with a wider slump in smartphone demand. Bloomberg reported that the company delivered a far weaker forecast than expected and saw shared slide as much as 8.4 percent in trading.

Header image credit: Qualcomm

Source: Bloomberg