Qualcomm today unveiled its next-gen smartphone chip, the Snapdragon 845, which promises to speed up AI processing times, capture more colors from video recording, and make the handset even more secure.
Qualcomm talked up the features on Wednesday at its Tech Summit in Hawaii, and said new smartphones will start carrying the Snapdragon 845 early next year.
The chip still relies on the same 10-nanometer manufacturing process the Snapdragon 835 used. However, the new processor has been built with a different architecture that can squeeze out better processing speeds and more energy savings. For instance, the new chip is 30 percent faster in graphics processing, and can reduce power consumption by 30 percent when compared with the Snapdragon 835.
However, Qualcomm also stressed that chip is designed for much more.
- Image recording: The Snapdragon 845 can capture 64 times more HDR color information compared to its predecessor, meaning more vivid 4K video from smartphones with the chip. It can also shoot 16-megapixel images at 60 frames per second.
- AI: Consumers can expect a three times improvement in AI performance compared with the Snapdragon 835. As a result, voice assistant software and AI-driven prediction on virtual keyboards will run even better. Software that relies on voice input will also consume less power.
- Security: The Snapdragon 845 includes a "secure processing unit" that's designed to improve the security and encryption around the processing of biometric data like your fingerprint, voice, or face.
- Bluetooth: Qualcomm says the chip can cut down on battery consumption from wireless headphones by up to 50 percent.
In terms of technical specs, the Snapdragon 845 is built with eight cores. Four of them run at 2.8GHz or a 25 percent increase over the last generation. The remaining four cores run at 1.8GHz.
For wireless connectivity, the chip will use the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem, which can push LTE device speeds to 1.2Gbps.
Qualcomm expects the new chip to be shipped in over 100 different devices. The Snapdragon 845 is also built for Windows systems, which Qualcomm showed off yesterday.