Qualcomm’s Snapdragon flagship processors are great all-round chipsets, offering good CPU performance, class-leading GPUs, and fantastic connectivity. But one feature it’s lacked for a couple of years now is support for the AV1 video codec.
Now, Protocol has reported that the next-generation flagship Snapdragon SoC, code-named SM8550 (presumably the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), will support AV1 decoding. The outlet cited a source who saw the chipset’s spec sheets.
Why does AV1 matter?
The AV1 codec offers better video quality for the same file size and the same quality at a smaller file size. In fact, it’s ~30% more efficient than the H.265 codec. This is handy for streaming in particular, with the likes of Netflix and YouTube already supporting AV1.
The news also comes a couple of months after Protocol reported that Google was readying a Chromecast with Google TV that would offer AV1 support. Hopefully, this is just the start of AV1 becoming mainstream. Now, about more streaming services and device manufacturers supporting the codec.
