Compute SoC advances Android smartphones
Article By : Susan Nordyk
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G mobile platform packs a modem-RF system that boasts 10-Gbps download speeds.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm’s premium 5G mobile platform, packs a modem-RF system that boasts 10-Gbps download speeds. The system-on chip also offers Snapdragon Sight, a collection of premium camera features, including one of the first 18-bit image signal processors in the mobile arena. According to Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile, compute, and infrastructure, Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 delivers connectivity, photography, AI, gaming, sound, and security experiences never before available in a smartphone.
Built on a 4-nm process, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 employs a 64-bit Kryo CPU based on an Arm Cortex-X2 operating at up to 3.0 GHz. Along with the 5G modem-RF system, the chip integrates Bluetooth 5.2 and supports Wi-Fi speeds up to 3.6 Gbps over Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. It also includes an AI engine that features a 2x faster tensor accelerator and 2x larger shared memory than its predecessor. The part’s 18-bit image signal processor captures over 4000x more camera data than its predecessor for extreme dynamic range, color, and sharpness at speeds of up to 3.2 Gpixels per second.
For vault-like security, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 offers a trusted execution environment and secure processing unit, complemented by a dedicated trust management engine that provides additional root of trust for apps and services. It also supports iSIM eUICC and Android Ready Secure Element for mobile IDs and digital keys.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will be adopted by global OEMs and brands, including Black Shark, Honor, iQOO, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Redmi, Sharp, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE, with commercial devices expected by the end of 2021.
This article was originally published on EDN.