The massive image: Qualcomm would be the main cellular chipmaker on the prime finish of the market, however within the mid-range, the corporate faces critical competitors from Taiwanese fabless semiconductor firm MediaTek, whose SoCs have turn into more and more extra frequent in reasonably priced gadgets, particularly in China, India and different worldwide markets.
Qualcomm lately announced the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 cellular chipset for premium mid-range smartphones. It’s the second Snapdragon 7-series SoC introduced by Qualcomm, and an improve over final yr’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC. The corporate by no means introduced a ‘+’ variant of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, nor did it launch a typical Snapdragon 7 Gen 2.
By way of {hardware} specs, Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 packs an octa-core CPU with a 1+3+4 core configuration that features a Cortex-X2 Prime core at 2.91GHz, three Cortex-A710 Efficiency cores at 2.49GHz, and 4 Cortex A510 Effectivity cores at 1.8GHz.
The brand new chip additionally comes with an unspecified Adreno GPU with Vulcan 1.1 assist, choose Snapdragon Elite Gaming options, and Adreno Body Movement Engine. The AI duties might be taken care of by the Hexagon DSP that is mentioned to supply as much as 2x higher AI efficiency than the last-gen chip.
By way of efficiency, Qualcomm didn’t provide any benchmark outcomes, however claimed the customized Kryo CPU cores will provide greater than 50 % improved efficiency over its predecessor. The Adreno GPU is alleged to pack 2x the efficiency of the last-gen chip.
Qualcomm additionally claims the brand new chip is as much as 13 % extra energy environment friendly than the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 in “prolonged day by day use,” thanks in no small measure to TSMC’s 4nm course of node. For comparability, the Gen 1 chip was fabricated on Samsung’s 4nm course of node.
Like its predecessor, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 additionally helps LPDDR5 reminiscence (not LPDDR5X) working at 3,200MHz. The brand new SoC additionally has an built-in Snapdragon X62 mobile modem with 5G NR sub-6 and mmWave assist. Qualcomm claims the modem helps as much as 4.4Gbps obtain speeds and dual-active 5G. Different connectivity options embrace Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth v5.3.
Pictures is one main space of enchancment within the new chip, with Qualcomm’s triple 18-bit Spectra ISP from the Snapdragon 8 sequence changing the 14-bit unit discovered within the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. Qualcomm mentioned the change will make for higher images and movies with improved dynamic vary. It’s also anticipated to allow brighter pictures with much less noise in low-light conditions.
The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 might be utilized by a lot of Android distributors, together with Xiaomi and BBK Electronics of their Redmi and Realme manufacturers, respectively. Units powered by the brand new chipset will begin hitting the market earlier than the tip of this month.