Image: Qualcomm.
Qualcomm announced this Tuesday, during the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, its new mobile SoC (System on a Chip), Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, designed to integrate generative AI into our future smartphones. According to the company, it was “meticulously designed with generative AI in mind.”
AI in the SoC
Compared to its predecessor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 brings its share of improvements, including: an improved Kryo processor (up to 3.3 GHz) whose performance has been evaluated at 30% and efficiency energy at 20%; Arm Cortex-X4 technology; an improved AI engine; the Adreno GPU; the Hexagon NPU (which Qualcomm claims is up to 98% faster, with a 40% performance increase); and a host of improvements for gaming, photography and AI.
Qualcomm is therefore placing emphasis this year on the artificial intelligence capabilities of its mobile systems. Qualcomm’s AI engine now supports multi-modal generative AI models, large language models (LLM), language vision models (LVM), and network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR). transformers, with more than 10 billion parameters.
The company says LLMs can now run at up to 20 tokens per second, resulting in improvements for virtual assistants and more personalized responses, supported by Qualcomm’s Sensing Hub technologies.
Enhanced photo and video capabilities
Qualcomm’s AI-backed image processing capabilities include the Spectra image processor, hardware acceleration for depth sensors, and support for multiple HDR sensors – including triple video and multi -frame.
The new SoC can also support up to three 36 MP cameras at 30 frames per second (fps), two 64 MP + 36 MP cameras (30 fps, no shutter lag), or a single 108 MP camera (30 fps, no shutter lag).
In addition, the chip supports photo shooting up to 200 MP, AI-based facial recognition and AI for the 3A – autofocus, auto-exposure and white balance automatic (auto-white balance). Video capture is set to 8K HDR.
Qualcomm is also improving the Elite Gaming features of its chips, with up to 240 fps on 240 Hz displays, up to 8K with Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, and an improved Adreno Frame 2.0 motion engine. Additionally, the introduction of Unreal Engine version 5.2 brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing and Lumen global illumination.
Security, connectivity and high performance
Qualcomm also touted its processor’s security features. The new mobile chip uses a trust management engine, Trusted Execution Environment & Services (TEE), and supports Android’s DICE-based remote key provisioning, increasing the robustness of service APIs. Additionally, among other improvements, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s Secure Processing Unit (SPU) is compatible with the latest Android Strongbox SW components.
As for connectivity, the new SoC is equipped with the Snapdragon The 5G modem is equipped with an integrated AI tensor hardware accelerator to improve speeds and coverage. Wi-Fi 7 was also mentioned, with a top speed of 5.8 Gbps.
“High performance AI has been infused into Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, system-wide, to enable best-in-class performance and extraordinary experiences,” said Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile devices. at Qualcomm. “This platform ushers in a new era of generative AI, which will enable users to generate unique content, make them more productive, and lead to other revolutionary use cases. »
Other new features announced by Qualcomm
Android devices equipped with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Regarding partner brands, Qualcomm cited ASUS, Honor, OnePlus, OPPO, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE as potentially ready to use the new SoC in upcoming devices.
In addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon X Elite, a PC platform aimed at increasing the power and capabilities of AI applications with increased speed and responsiveness.
Snapdragon Seamless, Qualcomm’s new cross-device system, was also revealed at the event. Designed to break down the barriers between “OEMs, devices and operating systems”, Seamless will allow users to move between devices and operating systems on PC, tablet and mobile . Snapdragon Seamless is integrated into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Snapdragon X Elite platforms.
Source: ZDNet.com