While the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 phones haven't made it to our hands, and the rumors of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus are spilling up, a new report has revealed some of the specs of Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.

According to Protocol, Qualcomm is planning to add support for AV1 codec in the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The publication specifically refers to the Adreno GPU of the "SM8550", which is believed to be the upcoming Snapdragon flagship chipset. For reference, the current Snapdragon 8 Gen1 has the model number SM8450, while the Plus version is expected to come with model number SM8475.

As previously detailed, the new AV1 codec is 30% better in terms of compression than H.265 which allows for faster streaming all while consuming less amount of data. It is more battery efficient as well. Netflix already streams some of its content in this codec to compatible devices. Google also uses this codec on YouTube for some devices.

Qualcomm is, however, late to the party. MediaTek added support for the AV1 codec in 2020 with its first Dimensity 1000 chipset. Samsung later followed it up and added support for the codec in 2021 with its Exynos 2100 chipset for Galaxy S21 (the newly announced Galaxy S22 also supports AV1 video codec). The support is also found in Intel’s Gen12 integrated graphics.

Hopefully, Qualcomm will add support for the modern video codec in its upcoming chipset. Protocol says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is expected "at the end of this year at the earliest," which lines up with Qualcomm's release cycle as well. It might also encourage Apple to add support for the codec to their A-series chip for iPhones (the current-gen iPhone 13 series doesn't support the AV1 video codec).

Source: Protocol | Via: XDA Developers