Qualcomm debuts Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipsets

(Image Courtesy: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm has officially debuted the two newest SoC's in its Snapdragon line-up - Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The two new chipsets were revealed at an event hosted by the company, which was livestreamed in China.

Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 mobile platform

Positioned for gaming, Qualcomm's 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 houses the company's latest Adreno GPU, that the chipset maker says is 20 percent faster in terms of performance and enables low-latency HDR gaming.

It also comes with Adreno Frame Motion, which Qualcomm says doubles framerates in games, by upscaling content without drawing more power. It also helps reduced touch latency while gaming.

Besides the GPU, the CPU is Qualcomm's Hexagon Processor based on 64-bit Kryo CPU cores clocked at 2.4GHz, which the company says enables more intuitive AI experiences such as Video Super Resolution or VSR, which provides digital zoom capabilities, and Camera Deep Learning Face Detect (DLFD) which can scan faces, even when masked, by using autofocus derived from 300 facial landmarks.

Qualcomm says that the chip will be the first in the Snapdragon 7 series to feature the Qualcomm AI engine, with up to 30 percent faster AI performance. The chip can supports up to 16GB LP-DDR5@3200 MHz RAM.

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 has the X62 5G modem that can offer speeds up to 4.4 Gbps and has support for multiple networks, frequencies and bandwidths globally. It also carries the latest Bluetooth standard, Bluetooth 5.3 for reliable LE audio, and can broadcast in-game audio to multiple connected devices. The on board Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 mobile connectivity system can deliver network speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps over Wi-Fi 6 and 6E.

The chip has support for triple camera 25-megapixel module, or a dual-camera module with a 64-megapixel primary and 20-megapixel secondary camera. There is also support for a 84-megapixel single camera.

The chip can take up to 200-megapixel photos, with a triple ISP that can capture photos using three cameras at once, allowing you to capture 4K HDR+ photos and 4K HDR video.

As for displays, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 supports panels up to Quad HD+ at a refresh rate of 60Hz, or 144Hz with a FHD+ panel, and uses Snapdragon Sound technology to deliver low-latency, lossless audio. It also has Qualcomm's aptX technology for lossless audio over Bluetooth.

Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform

Based on 64-bit, Kryo CPU cores clocked at 3.2GHz, the 4nm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is Qualcomm's premium SoC. The company said it provides up to 30 percent faster CPU performance compared to Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and has 10 percent faster GPU clock speeds, with a power reduction of 30 percent.

The Adreno GPU also has support for the Frame Motion Engine, supports HDR gaming and can do Volumetric Rendering.

It supports 4K displays at a refresh rate of 60Hz or QHD+ displays at a refresh rate of 144Hz, and has support for 10-bit color along with HDR10 and HDR10+. The chipset even has demura and subpixel rendering support for AMOLED displays.

Qualcomm says its AI engine can perform 20 percent better compared to the previous iteration, and features a low-power AI system that doesn't affect battery life.

It has support for three 36-megapixel cameras or a primary 64-megapixel and 36-megapixel dual camera or a single 108-megapixel camera. It has a triple 18-bit ISP and can record 8K HDR video at 30fps. It can also capture 4K video at 120fps and supports Video Super Resolution.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 can hit 5G speeds of up to 10 Gbps and Wi-Fi 6/6E speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps. Qualcomm says the improved power consumption can give you an extra 5 and a half hours of talk time.

Like the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the 8+ also supports Qualcomm's lossless aptX codec, with over 17 hours of music playback over LE audio.