Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset was just announced, and smartphone manufacturers are already preparing to release a new premium phone with the flagship chip. What exactly is the chip? The first official promotional video is available for viewing, though it does require some explanation.
The video doesn’t say it explicitly, but it boasts about the triple 18-bit ISP, which can handle three 36MP cameras at the same time. In addition, to improve portrait mode results, the new AI hardware can segment the image into face, hair, background, and so on.
Following that, Qualcomm is the latest smartphone chipmaker to adopt hardware accelerated ray tracing. It’s the “next big thing” in console graphics, for example, and it should start showing up in mobile games soon.
The 8 Gen 2 has up to 35% more CPU performance and 40% more efficiency, as well as up to 25% more GPU performance and 45% more efficiency (compared to the 8 Gen 1).
Anyway, after ray tracing, the video delves into audio, but there’s more on that in the second promo video. The latest Snapdragon Sound system supports spatial audio natively, allowing for a more immersive listening and gaming experience.
When it comes to audio, Bluetooth LE Audio is supported (so far Bluetooth sound relied on pre-LE tech). The FastConnect 7800 system on the new chip also includes lossless audio and a low-latency mode (dropping to 48ms).
In addition, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is one of the first chipsets to support Wi-Fi 7. (802.11be). You can’t even buy Wi-Fi 7 routers yet, but once you do, your phone’s home Internet speeds will improve as well.
