Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 unveiled: Qualcomm’s mobile chip is more powerful than ever
Qualcomm has announced its new flagship mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, which is its fastest one yet.
The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 has been revealed as Qualcomm’s new and most powerful mobile chipset to date, with improvements across the board to CPU and GPU performance.
Qualcomm claims that the new chip boasts 10% faster CPU performance, with peak clock speeds of 3.2GHz, along with 30% improved CPU power efficiency, meaning that you could “browse the web or check in with social networks for over 50 minutes longer.”
Likewise, clock speeds on the GPU are 10% faster with a 30% power reduction. What’s more, the new chip supports Volumetric Rendering, which brings far greater realism to fog and smoke when you’re immersed in gameplay.
The Qualcomm AI Engine, now in its seventh generation, is also faster and more advanced than ever, with the manufacturer estimating that it has as much as a 20% better performance per watt than previously. One potential feature of this in action would be the ability to capture video footage with AI bokeh effects and face tracking working simultaneously.
More generally on image quality, Qualcomm notes that its Snapdragon Sight feature packs 18-bit triple ISP for excellent colour and clarity, while you can also record 8K footage with HDR while simultaneously taking 64-megapixel still photos.
The 4th Gen Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System can supply 5G speeds up to 10Gbps, while the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Mobile Connectivity System can deliver Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E speeds of up to 3.6Gbps.
This silicon is the follow-up to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which we’ve seen in action on several Android flagships this year, including the Xiaomi 12 Pro, Oppo Find X5 Pro, and OnePlus 10 Pro. Below are some of the benchmarking results that we’ve registered on those devices, with Geekbench scores referring to CPU performance and 3D Mark scores indicating GPU performance:
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 devices benchmark scores
We look forward to seeing how devices boasting the Plus version will compete with those above. Forthcoming models running on the chip may well include the rumoured OnePlus 10 Ultra, along with the next generations of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3.