After several leaks and rumors, Qualcomm has finally unveiled its latest flagship chipset for smartphones -- the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. As with all 'Plus' variants of flagship Qualcomm chipsets launched over the last few years, the new SoC offers minor improvements over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, including better CPU and GPU performance and lower power consumption.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1: Specifications
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 |
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CPU |
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GPU |
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Display |
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AI |
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Memory |
LPDDR5 @ 3200MHz, 16GB |
ISP |
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Modem |
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Charging |
Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 |
Connectivity |
Location: Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, QZSS, NavIC capableWi-Fi: Qualcomm FastConnect 6900; Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6; 2.4/5GHz/6GHz Bands; 20/40/80/160 MHz Channels; DBS (2x2 + 2x2), TWT, WPA3, 8×8 MU-MIMOBluetooth: Version 5.3, aptX Voice, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, and LE audio |
Manufacturing Process |
4nm TSMC |
As you can probably tell from looking at the spec sheet above, the new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 doesn't bring anything revolutionary to the table. Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the Plus variant is an iterative upgrade, offering minor performance improvements and better power efficiency. However, there is now a switchover to TSMC's 4nm manufacturing process, which can yield some realizable gains.
The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 features an improved Qualcomm Kryo CPU, with a Cortex-X2 prime core clocked at 3.2Ghz, three Cortex A710 performance cores clocked at 2.8GHz, and four Cortex A510 efficiency cores clocked at 2.0GHz. Qualcomm claims that the upgraded CPU is 10 percent faster than the one on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and offers 30 percent better CPU power efficiency.
The Adreno GPU on the new chipset also boasts of up to 10 percent faster clock speeds and a 30 percent reduction in power consumption. The 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine on the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 also offers up to 20 percent better performance per watt than its predecessor.
The rest of the specifications of the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, like the Spectra 680 ISP and the Snapdragon X65 5G modem, remain unchanged. However, Qualcomm has made one minor improvement on the connectivity front. Instead of Bluetooth 5.2, Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset offers Bluetooth 5.3 support.
Qualcomm says that devices featuring the new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset from OEMs like ASUS ROG, Black Shark, Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, OSOM, Realme, RedMagic, Redmi, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE should hit the market in Q2 2022. While the company has not shared a definitely release timeline, recent leaks suggest that some OEMs could announce their latest flagships before the end of June.