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Availability & List of OEMs adapting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence)
At Snapdragon Summit 2023, Qualcomm announced its latest premium mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The new chip brings on-device intelligence through advanced AI, high-end performance, and increased power efficiency. The new chip is built on the 4nm process, and offers faster speeds than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and various other AI, gaming, and productivity features.
At the Summit, Qualcomm also announced the new Snapdragon X Elite, a new powerful laptop chip.
Availability & List of OEMs adapting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Qualcomm announced that its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 premium mobile platform would become available for OEMs and smartphone brands “in the coming weeks”. As usual, we expect to see new devices sporting the new chip from November or December, and even more devices from early next year.
There are a number of OEMs and smartphone makers expected to announce new devices equipped with the new chipset, including ASUS, HONOR, IQOO, Meizu, NIO, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmi, REDMAGIC, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.
Technical Specifications
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 provides significantly better efficiency and performance compared to its predecessor, and various other improvements in categories such as AI, connectivity, camera, gaming, display, camera, and audio support.
The chip is built on the latest 4nm process, and Qualcomm says the new CPU provides 30% better performance and 20% more power efficiency. The GPU provides 25% better performance, while remaining 25% more power efficient. Ray Tracing performance is improved by 40%, and Qualcomm says there is a 10% overall savings in power, improving the battery life.
Core design 4nm
CPU Core Count 8 cores, 64-bit
GPU design Adreno GPU
Connectivity Features 5G (mmWave + Sub 6GHz), Qualcomm FastConnect 7800: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4,
CPU Clock Speeds 1 Prime core, up to 3.3 GHz | 5 Performance cores, up to 3.2 GHz | 2 Efficiency cores, up to 2.3 GHz
USB Version 3.1 Gen 2; USB Type-C Support
Memory Up to 24GB. Support for LP-DDR5x memory, up to 4800 MHz
Charging Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 5 Technology
Storage UFS 4.0
Camera Support for triple video capture from HDR image sensors, with seamless switching between any HDR mode | Up to 36 MP triple camera @ 30 FPS with Zero Shutter Lag | Up to 64+36 MP dual camera @ 30 FPS with ZeroShutter Lag | Up to 108 MP single camera @ 30 FPS with Zero Shutter Lag | Up to 200 megapixel photo capture
Audio Qualcomm Aqstic™ audio codec | Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier | Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N) | Playback: -108dB | Qualcomm® Audio and Voice Communication Suite | Spatial audio with head-tracking
Display On-Device Display Support:4K @ 60 Hz | QHD+ @ 144 Hz | Maximum External Display Support:Up to 8K @ 30 Hz | Up to 1080 @ 240 Hz | Variable Refresh Rate support for 240 Hz to 1 Hz | 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut | HDR10, HDR10+, HDR vivid, and Dolby Vision
Connectivity
Qualcomm has always been a pioneer in connectivity, and the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 features some of the best the company offers. The new chip comes with 5G, offering faster speeds and better performance thanks to the Snapdragon X75 Model-RF system, designed with AI hardware acceleration. The chip also uses the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System that features Wi-Fi 7 for faster speeds and a more reliable connection.
Camera
As is the case with all modern chips, the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 comes with its own Cognitive ISP that’s powered by AI. The ISP can intelligently and individually optimize different components of shots in real-time in up to 12 layers of detail, vibrancy and Semantic Segmentation, available on both the front and rear cameras.
The chip also offers Video Object Eraser by Arcsoft that enables the removal of unwanted people and objects at the press of a button.
Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence)
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 uses the Qualcomm AI Engine, relying on the Adreno GPU and Kryo Processors, and the Hexagon NPU to improve AI performance and bring new features to compatible devices. As a result of the new advancements, the new chip will improve AI power and efficiency, enabling on-device generative AI features to be completed in seconds, instead of minutes.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the first platform from the company to be designed with generative AI in mind. Qualcomm will enable users to generate unique content, boosting productivity and other use cases. Qualcomm explains that these new AI features could be used for “large language models (LLM), language vision models (LVM), and transfer network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) up to 10B parameters, solely on-device.”
Gaming
Gaming has always been a primary selling point for the flagship chip, and as such, the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 focuses on improving gaming performance and efficiency. The new SoC supports 240Hz displays, and uses the Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 with the Adreno GPU that offers 25% faster speeds at 25% higher efficiency.
The variable refresh rate now ranges from 1Hz to 240Hz, and global illumination with ray tracing is also here to stay. Gaming can also be upscaled on external displays, up to 8K, using the Snapdragon Game Super Resolution. Console-level gaming is also coming to more smartphones and portable devices thanks to the support of Unreal Engine 5.2.
Sound
Qualcomm claims the new chip offers “Studio-quality audio” thanks to the new Snapdragon Sound with Qualcomm Expanded Personal Area Network technology (XPAN) for uninterrupted lossless audio when away from the device. The new system uses less power, and is able to sync up in milliseconds, essentially ruling out lag between the host device and the connected earbuds and other audio equipment. The SoC supports 24-bit 96 kHz lossless music over Bluetooth.
