Qualcomm announced its latest premium 5G mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset. The new premium SoC comes with a more power-efficient and even more powerful performance, improved AI, gaming, camera, connectivity, and Bluetooth technologies. The new chipset replaces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that was announced last year.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset is the new powerhouse SoC, offering performance enhancements and efficiency across the board. The next generation of premium and high-tier Android smartphones will mostly pack the new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC and the newly announced Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset in midrange devices.

Availability

Qualcomm revealed that the new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset would be commercially available to devices sometime in the second and third quarters of 2022. Several smartphone manufacturers have already announced their intention to release brand new premium devices equipped with the latest platform. We expect to see both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and the latest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC in the upcoming devices.

These phones will have the new SoC

In the press release, Qualcomm announced that leading global OEMs have already announced their intention to adopt the new platform and technologies. The following OEMs have officially confirmed that they’ll pack the new chip in at least one of the future smartphones:

  • ASUS ROG
  • Black Shark
  • HONOR
  • IQOO
  • Lenovo
  • Motorola
  • Nubia
  • OnePlus
  • OPPO
  • OSOM
  • realme
  • REDMAGIC
  • Redmi
  • vivo
  • Xiaomi
  • ZTE

Specifications

Category

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1

Manufacturing Process

4 nm

CPU

Qualcomm® Kryo™ CPU
- CPU Clock Speed: Up to 3.2 GHz
- CPU Cores: Qualcomm® Kryo™ CPU
- CPU Architecture: 64-bit

GPU

Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU

Display

Max External Display: Up to 4K @ 60 Hz
Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz,
QHD+ @ 144 Hz
HDR: HDR10+
Color Depth: Up to 10-bit
Color Gamut: Rec2020

AI

7th-generation AI Engine 3rd-generation
Qualcomm Sensing Hub

Memory

Speed: 3,200 MHz
Type: LPDDR5

Image Signal Processor

Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra™ image signal processor
Triple 18-bit ISPs, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP)
Triple Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 36 MP
Dual Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64+36 MPSingle Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 108 MP
Single Camera: Up to 200 MP
Camera Features: Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR), Locally Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering, AI-based face detection, auto-focus, and auto-exposure, Low light photography architecture
Slow Motion Video Capture: 720p @ 960 FPS with frame rate conversion

Video Capture

Codec Support: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), VP8, VP9
Video Capture Features: 8K video capture at 30fps, Bokeh Engine for Video Capture, Video super resolution, 4K Video Capture @ 120 FPS
Video Playback: HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision

Modem

Snapdragon™ X65 5G Modem-RF System
- 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz
- Peak Download: 10 Gbps

Other Connectivity

Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 6900
- Peak Speed: 3.6 Gbps
- Standards: Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11a/b/g/n
- Wi-Fi Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz
Bluetooth System: Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 6900
- Bluetooth 5.3NFCUSB 3.1, USB-C

Security

Biometric Authentication (Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, Face)Sensor: Qualcomm® 3D Sonic Sensor

Charging

Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 (100W+)

Connectivity

The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC comes with the same modem that was already available in the non-plus, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. It comes with the 4th generation Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system, which offers more advanced 5G performance. The modem allows up to 10 Gbps speeds, and it supports 10 mmWave bands, and 300 MHz sub-6 GHz bands for more reliable performance.

Camera

The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 features the Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor, and it uses triple 18-bit ISPs that can capture 4,000-times more data than the 14-bit ISP, enabling simultaneous triple capture. It supports billions of shades of colors with 8K HDR video capture. It supports up to 200MP sensors on a single camera, and there are other configurations allowing OEMs to customize the performance even further depending on the camera layout and features.

Unfortunately, the video capture at 8K resolution is still limited to 30fps, but the 4K video capture is capable of recording at 120fps. The video formats support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG formats.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset

Source: Pocketnow

The SoC uses the 7th generation Qualcomm AI Engine, which is up to four times faster, and it delivers up to 20% better performance per watt than its predecessor. It’s more efficient and more powerful. It also uses the third generation Qualcomm Sensing Hub that can automatically track activities and surroundings. The camera also benefits from the AI engine, which allows for AI-based face detection, camera effects such as bokeh, AI-based Echo cancellation and noise suppression, and more.

Gaming

Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 Gaming

Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm says the new system contains the full suite of Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, resulting in ultra-responsive, color-rich HDR scenes and desktop-level capabilities. The SoC includes the Qualcomm Adreno GPU, providing 10% faster speeds and 30% power reduction to deliver an improved gameplay experience.

Due to the new power efficiencies, Qualcomm says that a user can expect to game for an additional 60 minutes. When it comes to the CPU, it’s received a 10% faster processing power, and it’s up to 30% more power-efficient. The numbers might not look massive, but they do add up, and these are marginal but welcome improvements to help lengthen the battery life and reduce the heat.

Sound

The chip contains the Qualcomm Aqstic, which features AI-based Echo cancellation and noise suppression, support for High Dynamic Range (HDR), Record, and Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N). The Snapdragon Sound technology comes with Qualcomm aptX Lossless technology and LE Audio with over 17 hours longer playback.

Security

The chip supports the Qualcomm® Trusted Execution Environment & Services and it also allows manufacturers to equip devices with all Biometric Authentication sensors, including Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, and Face security systems. The chip also comes with a Trust Management Engine to provide more security to applications, and it’s also capable of safely storing ID cards, driver’s licenses and more.