Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 7, 8+ Gen 1 silicon series

Smartphones with Qualcomm's latest chipsets is expected to hit stores in the coming months

American semiconductor giant Qualcomm on Friday (May 20) unveiled a new line of premium and mid-range smartphone chipsets.

The new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 succeeds the standard Snapdragon 8 series launched in late 2021. It comes with improvements including Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, which promise to deliver ultra-smooth responsiveness, colour-rich HDR scenes, and desktop-level capabilities on a smartphone.

Also, an improved Adreno GPU provides up to 10% faster clock speeds and 30% power reduction for the ultimate gameplay experience. And, it can enable phones to capture 8K HDR video recording and support premium HDR10+ format with over a billion shades of colour.

With the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 can enable ultra-advanced AI experiences like simultaneous AI Bokeh effects and face tracking on a phone. It can clock CPU speed up to 3.2Ghz, promising 10 per cent increased performance boost in the phones compared to one with a standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.

Furthermore, it comes integrated with Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 to enable ultra-responsive Wi-Fi up to 3.6 Gbps speed and can support 5G with peak download speed up to 10Gbps.

The new Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset series. Credit: Qualcomm

On the other hand, the new Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 for mid-range phones comes with Qualcomm Adreno GPU that can deliver over 20% faster graphics rendering and ultra-low-latency HDR gaming compared to other previous 700 series chipsets.

It also boasts Snapdragon Elite Gaming features such as Qualcomm Game Quick Touch and Adreno Frame Motion Engine to accelerate responsiveness and efficiency.

Furthermore, it comes with the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine that infuses intelligence into every on-device experience, delivering up to 30% higher AI performance than its predecessor. It’s jam-packed with intuitive AI features including Camera Deep Learning Face Detect (DLFD), which recognizes 300 facial landmarks for ultra-accurate autofocus, even when wearing a mask.

Another notable aspect is that it features Qualcomm Spectra Triple 14-bit ISP that enables simultaneous capture from three cameras, with smooth zooming and parallel processing up to 2.5 gigapixels per second. Plus, snap meticulous detail like never before in up to 200 MP, a Snapdragon 7-series first.

Another first includes the Android Ready SE, which promises highly secure, tamper-resistant hardware for safekeeping digital keys, IDs, mobile wallets, and more. It can support peak cellular internet speed up to 4.4Gbps.

Qualcomm says that the phones with Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset is expected to come in a few weeks and the premium phones with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is expected to hit stores Q3 (July-September) 2022.

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