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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 will arrive on 5G devices in Q1 2021.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 processor will not support a video compression technology developed by Google, Netflix and other tech giants, dealing a severe blow to data efficiency and streaming quality improvements for the next generation of Android phones.
Judd Heape, Qualcomm’s vice president of product management, says the mobile chip leader was unable to include AV1 technology in the new chip due to cost and programming considerations. Qualcomm’s chips will eventually support AV1, he said, although he declined to provide the time.
“It didn’t turn into this piece of silicon,” Heape said in an interview about the new photo and video features of the Snapdragon 888.
The absence of AV1 in the Snapdragon 888 is a setback for new technology in millions of new phones. Qualcomm’s new high-end chips will power phones from LG, Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, and Xiaomi. AV1 is designed to reduce data usage and enable sharper, higher resolution video streams.
The alliance, whose founders also include Microsoft, Amazon, Mozilla, Intel and Cisco, declined to comment.
AV1 is a video compression technology, sometimes called a codec, that reduces data requirements for video files and streams. That compression is essential to avoid monthly network data limits and see sharper 4K video without the need for more network capacity. YouTube, Facebook, and Netflix support AV1 for online video.
The AV1 format is popular with technology companies because it helps them avoid the expensive patent licensing costs that come with competing technologies. These include H.264, which dates back to 2003 but is still widely used, and the most recent sequel to that codec, called HEVC or H.265. Royalty fees influence everything from smartphone price tags to the costs of video streaming services.
Biggest Tech Companies Support AV1 Video
The AV1 project started with the founding of AOM in 2015. It launched AV1 in 2018 after combining codec technology from Google, Mozilla and Cisco. Newest members of AOM include tech giants Apple, Facebook, and Samsung.
Browsers, including Firefox and Chrome, and video streaming services began supporting AV1 in 2018. The format offers 30% better compression than a parent codec, Google’s VP9, according to Facebook tests. Netflix measured a 20% improvement.
Chip compatibility is important for recording and playing back AV1 video streams without taxing the phone’s batteries. Chipmakers Intel, Arm, AMD and Nvidia are in the alliance.
AV1 has earned a few victories in hardware support this year. Smartphone chip maker MediaTek added AV1 support on its Dimensity 1000 chip, and Nvidia’s RTX 30 graphics chip can also speed up AV1 streaming for better streaming from sites like Amazon’s Twitch, which has become popular for streaming games. of videogames. The 11th Gen Intel Core processors, codenamed Tiger Lake and just hitting PCs now, also support AV1.
HEVC support is broader, reaching not only Qualcomm phone chips, but Intel and Apple processors as well. However, HEVC has been hampered by the uncertainties, complexities, and expense of patent licenses that helped lead to the creation of the AV1 alliance.
