TL;DR
- Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor.
- The new chipset doesn’t have any little CPU cores, suggesting good multi-core performance.
- There’s no word on the first phones with this processor just yet.
We’ve been hearing about a new Snapdragon 8s processor for a while now, and we expected it to slot in just below the all-conquering Snapdragon 8 Elite. Now, Qualcomm has indeed announced the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4.
The new chipset was announced in China and uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 name instead of the expected Snapdragon 8s Elite moniker. We’re guessing that’s because the new chip uses off-the-shelf Arm Cortex CPU cores instead of Qualcomm’s custom Oryon CPU tech. More specifically, the new chip uses one Cortex-X4 core at 3.2GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores at 3GHz, two Cortex-A720 cores at 2.8GHz, and two Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 2GHz. In other words, the processor differs from its predecessor by not having any little CPU cores.
It’s worth noting that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 used the same big and medium cores, but the move to drop little CPU cores means we’re expecting better multi-core performance for the 8s Gen 4. Qualcomm says you can expect 31% better CPU performance compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, but it’s unclear whether this figure refers to multi-core or single-core performance.
The new chip also uses an Adreno GPU with the sliced architecture that debuted on the Snapdragon 8 Elite. A slide posted by Qualcomm China suggests that the GPU has two slices versus the Elite chip’s three, along with 12MB of dedicated memory. You can expect a 49% graphical performance boost over the 8s Gen 3 GPU, along with ray tracing support and the firm’s Game Super Resolution 2.0 tech.
What about camera and AI features?
Qualcomm’s processor also has a faster NPU and twice the shared memory compared to the previous chip. These upgrades mean you can expect 44% faster AI performance, according to the chipmaker.
Value the camera experience? Then you can expect support for 320MP snapshots (up from 200MP), 108MP single-camera support with multi-frame processing, and three 36MP cameras. You can also expect advanced features like 4K/30fps low-light videos, up to 250 layers of real-time segmentation in photos and videos, real-time skin/sky tone correction, and Truepic authentication. Unfortunately, we do see some video downgrades compared to top-flight Snapdragon chips as the new processor drops 8K/30fps, 4K/120fps, and 720p/960fps support in favor of 4K/60fps and 1080p/480fps options.
However, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 does bring two notable connectivity upgrades: Bluetooth 6.0 and XPAN support. The latter means you can use compatible wireless earbuds over Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth for improved range and quality.
Other notable features include an unspecified 4nm design, 144Hz refresh rate support at QHD+ or WQHD+ resolution, aptX Adaptive/Lossless/Voice integration, Quick Charge 5, and Wi-Fi 7. Qualcomm says the chip also brings a 5G modem with peak downlink speeds of 4.2Gbps. Unlike the 8s Gen 3, however, the new chip seems to lack mmWave support altogether.
There’s no official word on when we can expect the first phones with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. However, we’re expecting the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus to offer devices with this processor.
