Today on the Big Island in Hawaii, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, its next-generation flagship mobile chipset. As usual, the company is also unveiling partners that will be using the new product, but it went a step further this time. Xiaomi actually announced a new device, the Xiaomi 12 Series, and it's going to be the first to use Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

The company didn't say anything else about the device. That includes what the Xiaomi 12 Series will actually look like, or even which features of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 it will include. Remember, not all OEMs use all of the features that are available on the chipset.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 does have an entire host of new features. It has a brand-new triple ISP that can do things like record 8K video in HDR. It's also got a fourth ISP that's on all the time. This allows for things like always-on facial recognition, so you wouldn't have to wake the device to use it. Other camera features include better portrait mode video that uses AI and more.

Of course, AI is a theme, something that we've been seeing more and more of over the last several years. Qualcomm touted its seventh-generation AI Engine, and that should work to improve the rest of the experience. Vice President of Product Management for Snapdragon Roadmap & Application Processor Technologies Ziad Asghar told me that AI is a horizontal feature, meaning that it works across the full range of features rather than being one thing that you can pinpoint.

While the Xiaomi 12 Series is going to be the first with the Snapdragon 8 Series, there will be plenty more to come, and soon. We usually see these devices start arriving in the spring, and we're expecting to see them from Realme, Samsung, OnePlus, and a number of other smartphone OEMs.

Disclaimer: Qualcomm sponsored my trip to Kona, Hawaii, to attend the Snapdragon Tech Summit. The company paid for my flight and hotel. However, they did not have any input regarding the content of this article.