This week, Qualcomm introduced its next-generation chipset that you"ll see in next year"s flagship Android smartphones. It"s called the Snapdragon 888, and it represents one of the biggest improvements that we"ve seen in a chipset in years.
The prime core of the CPU is Cortex-X1, which is the best that ARM has to offer right now. Cortex-X1 is meant to be more customizable, and when it was announced, Arm promised a 30% increase in performance over Cortex-A77. The new architecture is definitely something that you should be excited about if you care about premium performance. It also comes with three Cortex-A78 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores.
On top of the new CPU architecture, almost everything else has been redesigned as well. It has Qualcomm"s sixth-generation AI Engine with the Hexagon 780 processor, promising three times the performance per watt. The Spectra 580 ISP is now a triple ISP, meaning that it can capture images from three sensors at the same time. And then there"s the Adreno 660 GPU, which promises 35% faster graphics rendering and 20% better power efficiency that the Adreno 650 that was in the last generation, the Snapdragon 865.
Like I said, there"s a lot that"s improved over the Snapdragon 865. Here are the two chips side-by-side:
| Snapdragon 888 | Snapdragon 865 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Kryo 680 CPU Up to 2.84GHz, with Arm Cortex-X1 technology 64-bit Architecture | Kryo 585 CPU Up to 2.84GHz 64-bit Architecture |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 660 GPU Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12 | Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12 |
| Cellular modem | Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System Peak Download Speed: 7.5 Gbps | Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G modem-RF system Peak Download Speed: 7.5 Gbps Peak Upload Speed: 3 Gbps Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave 5G Spectrum: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz 5G mmWave specs: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO 5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4x4 MIMO Multi-SIM features: Global 5G multi-SIM Cellular Technology: HSPA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE, LTE including CBRS support |
| AI Engine | 6th-gen AI Engine | 5th-gen AI Engine |
| Process | 5nm | 7nm |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi Standards: Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 5, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n | Wi-Fi Standards: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6-ready, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth Audio: Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio, LE Audio Features, Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Bluetooth 5.2 | Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio, aptX Voice audio for super wide band voice calls, Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo, Bluetooth 5.1 |
| NFC | Supported | |
| Location | Satellite Systems Support: Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual frequency GNSS, NavIC, NavIC enabled, GPS, GNSS, QZSS, SBAS | |
| USB | USB Version: USB 3.1, USB-C | |
| Qualcomm FastConnect System | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Subsystem: Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Subsystem: Qualcomm FastConnect 6800 |
| Camera | Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra 580 image signal processor, Triple 14-bit CV-ISPs, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP) | Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra 480 image signal processor, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP), Dual 14-bit CV-ISPs |
| Video | Codec Support: Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9 | |
| Display | Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz | Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz |
| General Audio | Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WSA8835, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology | Audio Technology: Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WSA8815, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology |
| Security Support | Fingerprint Sensor: Qualcomm 3D Sonic, Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max | |
These specs are from Qualcomm"s product listings for the Snapdragon 865 and the Snapdragon 888.
Qualcomm also introduced a Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset in-between last year and this year, although it"s supposed to be aimed more at gaming handsets. It"s mostly identical to the Snapdragon 865, but the CPU is overclocked to 3.1GHz, and the Adreno 650 GPU is boosted as well.
One thing that specs won"t tell you is what real-world performance is like. One thing that"s clear though is that the Snapdragon 888 is a heck of an improvement in just about every area. It"s going to be fun to test it out next year when devices start to arrive.