Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Processor Announced With 30% Better Power Efficiency: Specifications

True to our exclusive report a few months ago, Qualcomm has announced its latest flagship mobile processor, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, at the Snapdragon Night Event in China today. Shooting down earlier rumours of the chipset getting delayed, Qualcomm has launched its highly anticipated mobile processor for future flagship smartphones and tablets.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset that was launched in November 2021. Let us have a look at what has improved with the new processor.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Specifications, Features

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 can be considered a refreshed version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Qualcomm addresses two significant drawbacks of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1: high energy consumption and performance throttling.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was inefficient in maintaining its peak performance under sustained workloads, which you can check in our Xiaomi 12 Pro review. Passive cooling employed by various manufacturers was also unable to tame this beast, resulting in lower performance than even Qualcomm’s previous-generation processors.  

The CPU architecture of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is similar to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but the ARM Cortex-X2 CPU core is clocked at 3.2GHz, three Cortex-A710-CPU cores are clocked at 2.75GHz, and four ARM Cortex-A510 CPU cores are clocked at 2GHz.

Qualcomm decided to ditch Samsung’s 4nm node in favour of the TSMC’s more power-efficient 4nm fabrication process for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The new chipset promises to offer 10% higher CPU performance and 30% more power efficiency compared to the older chipset.

The Adreno 730 GPU is clocked 10% higher than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Qualcomm claims that the GPU now offers 30% improved power efficiency. HDR gaming, VRS (Variable Rate Shading), and Volumetric Rendering are supported as well. The chipset also supports up to 16GB LPDDR5 (3,200MHz) RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, and biometric authentication support (face, fingerprint, iris, and voice).

Those expecting more feature additions will be disappointed as these are the only changes in the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Other features like the integrated Snapdragon X65 5G modem, the Spectra 680 ISP, and the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 are carried over from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

The Adreno 730 GPU supports 4K screens at 60Hz and QHD+ screens at 144Hz. It supports encoding and decoding 10-bit videos in HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision formats.

The Spectra 18-bit triple-ISP supports up to 200MP camera sensors, 8K 30fps HDR video recording, and 4K 120fps HDR video recording. The ISP supports 108MP single-camera, 64MP+36MP dual-camera, or 36MP+36MP+36MP triple-camera setup with zero shutter lag.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset also features an integrated Snapdragon X65 5G modem that supports SA/NSA networks with mmWave and sub-6GHz networks with maximum download speeds of up to 10Gbps. Dual-frequency GPS, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, LE Audio, aptX Adaptive, NFC, and USB 3.1 Type-C connectivity features are supported as well.

When To Expect Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Smartphones To Launch?

Most Android smartphone OEMs have already lined up to use the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset in their high-end phones. ASUS, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi are expected to launch Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-equipped phones in the second half of 2022. Here is the list of all Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 smartphones that are expected to launch.