Hello All,
Welcome to the blog on Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset- The Snapdragon 888. The chipset was announced on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit 2020 on 1st and 2nd December respectively. So let’s dive in to find out what the summit had in store.
Snapdragon 888 Explained
Straight of the bat is the name- Snapdragon 888, why you ask? It’s because the previous flagship versions were named 845, 855, 865 so ideally 875 was the next variant but no- It’s 2020 so 888 it is (pun intended). The reason the number 888 was chosen as ‘8’ signifies infinity, success, or inner wisdom. In Sanskrit, it’s the number of wealth and abundance and in Chinese numerology 888 represents triple luck! (Source: Beebom)
The focus was mainly divided into 5 categories namely: Connectivity (5G), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Gaming, Camera and Security. Now let’s dive into the technical details-
Snapdragon 888 Architecture-
1- The CPU-
Based on the 5nm process technology, it uses the Kyro 680 CPU (64-bit) which provides 25% better power efficiency and better overall performance from Kyro 585 used in Snapdragon 865. Having an 8-core processor in (4-3-1 formation) with 1 ARM Cortex-X1 chip (a first) as the main core processor (prime core) having better cache memory (1MB) and clock speed up to 2.84 GHz. Three Arm Cortex A-78 cores at 2.4 GHz with 512kB cache memory and four Arm Cortex A-55 cores at 1.8 GHz with 128kB cache memory.
2- The Image Signal Processor (ISP): Spectra 580 CV-ISP for enhanced Camera performance.
ISP (Image Signal Processing) – Spectra 580 is the first Snapdragon having 3 ISP in it and all 3 can be used at the same time. ISP is related to the camera features in layman terms. For example- If your camera has triple sensors at the back (Main, telephoto and Ultra-Wide) it can capture data from all 3 sensors at the same time and then capture the picture as one. It has 200MP support for a single sensor capture. 960 fps- slo-mo and can capture 120 photos in 1 second in burst mode (used especially in moving photography). Comes with 4K HDR support.
10-bit HDR HEIF Photo Capture, so capturing over 1 million shades of colour. It also can do 4K recording with 3 cameras simultaneously. 4K at 60 and 120 fps or QHD+ at 144Hz. So it would be interesting to see how the manufacturers make use of this technology. Also significant improvement in low lighting conditions for capturing photos- as low as 0.1 Lux. Dolby vision video recording and multi-frame noise reduction- based on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM’s). Better watch out for these in the Galaxy S21 and Mi 11 series along with Vivo and Oppo.
3- Adreno 660 GPU- For the best mobile gaming experience!
The Adreno 660 GPU comes with 35% improvement in graphic rendering and 20% more power-efficient than previous generation Snapdragon. The 888 comes with LPDDR5 support up to 3,200MHz frequency, LPDDR4x at up to 2,133MHz, along with a density of up to 16GB. Gaming now comes with the support of Variable Rate Shading (VRS) a feature which was only available for PC games and consoles, thus increasing the gaming experience by 30%. Therefore allowing gaming at higher frame rates for longer.
Qualcomm also introduced the game Quick Touch, so a 20% faster touch response would be possible while playing games. CoD, Fortnight, PUBG, FAUG and Asphalt players to name a few – get ready to a better gaming experience. Anti-howl feature was added thus ensuring no audio feedback while playing in groups in close proximity with the mic on.
4- Qualcomm Hexagon 780 Processor for AI and DSP.
The new DSP (Digital Signal Processor) i.e Hexagon 780, claims that Snapdragon 888 can go up to 26 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS)! as compared to Snapdragon 555 which did 15 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS). This will come in handy especially for AI-related operations. The Scalar, Tensor and Vector accelerators are now merged together for a fused AI accelerator architecture which helps improve the computational speed and overall performance. An overall 43% improvement in AI performance.
It can be used by the camera (Auto Focus, Auto white balance, Auto exposure), Assistants like Google, Bixby etc. It claims to be almost 3 times more power-efficient. The shade (dedicated) memory needed for AI is improved by 16 times. So now with help of AI, no need for a tap to focus as your camera will automatically focus on the object while in videos no more need to zoom in and out of objects as all will be done on itself thanks to the rigorous AI training which has been provided to it. Also advanced filters options now available for social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram.
5- Connectivity- 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC.
Snapdragon 888 has a modem inbuilt- X60 which is the 3rd gen 5G modem. As being part of System on Chip (SoC) it consumes less power. Therefore better performance for 5G at mm-wave also better support for sub-6-GHz with a mix of TDD and FDD (Basically DSS- Dynamic Spectrum Sharing). Download speed up to 7.5Gbps and upload speed up to 3Gbps could be achieved.
With Fast Connect 6900 System- Better Wi-Fi connectivity with Wi-Fi 6. (yes Wi-Fi 6 was present in 865) but with support of Wi-Fi 6E (enhanced) with speed claimed up to 3.6Gbps along with support for 6Ghz over 6E network. It also comes with Bluetooth 5.2 which is far more efficient and superior as it can stream 2 signals at the same time. Resulting in no more loss is audio quality for music re-generation. Support for NFC also present.
Support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 5, so now we can get faster-charging speeds as the power bricks can now support 100W+ charging now.
6- Security.
Security was also considered in seriousness. Advanced security in photos with a cryptographic seal for pixels, date, time, location and depth map. Therefore a seal of authenticity for verification in the ever-growing morphed/edited photos world. Support for Qualcomm Wireless Edge Services to measure the security of the device and its wireless connections in real-time and in the cloud.
A hypervisor- To secure and isolate multiple OS for each app -all within the same device. So creating multiple profiles for work, personal or miscellaneous use is now an easy task. Great for security and privacy.
The Conclusion:
Qualcomm seems to have hit the nail on the head with main focus on mobile gaming a highly untapped market with high numbers of users in the mix. Better ISP for camera helping for better photography and videography and not to forget the AI improvements with additional security features which is the need for the hour. Premium Smart-phones launching with Snapdragon 888 would soon make their way in the market as early as the first quarter of 2021.
If you are interested to watch the Qualcomm Tech Summit Keynote you can watch it here-
Which manufacturer would be the first to do bring the Snapdragon 888 in the market? Do let me know your thoughts and also about which aspect of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 catch your eye? in the comments section below. For more blogs visit here. Until Next time! Ciao.
Vivek Nair
Note- All the above images are taken from the Qualcomm Tech Summit Keynotes. All credits to Qualcomm and its Keynote session for the images above.
