Your smartphone’s processor is the unsung hero of your device. It’s largely responsible for implementing all those features you’ve come to know and love. Qualcomm’s latest chip will push the capabilities of your next Android device even further, especially in terms of artificial intelligence.
On Sunday, Qualcomm unveiled its newest mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. In line with the industry’s shift toward on-device AI, this new chip is designed to unleash a new wave of mobile capabilities. Generative AI on smartphones.
“With capabilities such as on-device generative AI and advanced photography features, Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is designed to enhance users’ experience, driving creativity and productivity in their daily lives,” a said Chris Patrick, SVP at Qualcomm.
First arrivals in March 2024
Qualcomm has not revealed which high-end smartphones will feature the new chip. However, the company indicated that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will be adopted by major manufacturers, including Honor, iQOO, Realme, Redmi and Xiaomi, all Chinese OEMs, and that the first equipped device is expected to be released as early as March .
What exactly can we expect from these smartphones? Here are the three main AI features that will be present on these smartphones thanks to this new chip.
1. Generative AI virtual assistants
We all know about voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa, but what about an assistant that has a voice and above all a face ? According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will make this possible.
The virtual assistant would be supported by the Qualcomm Sensing Hub, which can compile all the user’s data, such as their favorite activities, locations, etc. so that the virtual assistant’s suggestions and responses are better tailored to the individual’s preferences.
2. Fast generation of images and texts on device
This year, there is growing interest in on-device AI, as this type of AI offers more execution speed and better security. Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 supports on-device generative AI with up to 10 billion parameters, supporting over 30 Large Language Models (LLM) and Large Vision Models (LVM) at impressive speeds.
To put the speed into perspective, it can generate images in a fraction of a second while the standard image generator takes around 10 seconds on average. LLM models can run at up to 20 tokens per second, which the company claims is one of the fastest in the smartphone industry.
3. Extending Photos on Device
Like Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature, Photo Expansion can generate content beyond the photo frame and blend it into the original photo, right on the user’s smartphone. This function is particularly useful for retouching a photo that you would have liked to frame better or to give another point of view on the same shot.
Source: “ZDNet.com”