Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 is a glimpse of the best your next Android phone will be

The chip that will power most of the high-end 5G phones next year is here: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. And for the first time in its ultra-high-end lineup, Qualcomm has integrated its 5G modem on the same chip as the brains. , artificial intelligence and other processor features, which will likely give 5G phones an increase in battery life.

Smartphones need many components to function, but two key parts that make a phone a phone are the application processor that acts as the brain of a device and a modem that connects it to a mobile network. The first 5G devices required separate modems that worked in conjunction with the main computer processor. That was because 5G technology was so new that it was too difficult to combine with the brain.

Last years Snapdragon 865 also had a separate modem, while Qualcomm integrated 5G connectivity with the processor system in its Mid-range Snapdragon 765 and 765G systems on a chip or SoC. Many people expected Qualcomm’s higher-end chip to be the first Snapdragon SoC to have a built-in modem, but the company at the time said that if it didn’t reduce the modem or processor functions of the application, the resulting chip would be too much. big and too powerful for high-end smartphones. Qualcomm decided not to commit to any of the features of its high-end phones, but was willing to make some compromises for its mid-range chip lineup.

The Snapdragon 865 paired with X55 modem to power most of the high-end 5G phones released in 2020, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S20 line.

With the Snapdragon 888, Qualcomm regains its SoC strengths and phone users will benefit. The biggest advantages of SoCs are better battery life and lower cost. Instead of two chips taking up space in a phone, there is only one, resulting in slimmer, sleeker phones or more room for larger batteries. Having an integrated chip also enables device manufacturers to rapidly develop phones for virtually any 5G network in the world, and makes 5G phones cheaper for consumers.

“It gives you everything you need in one package and, in theory, makes phone design easier, cheaper and simply better integrated,” said Technalysis Research analyst Bob O’Donnell.

The continued advancement of 5G is more critical than ever now that the coronavirus has radically changed our world. People are trapped at home and keep their distance from each other, forcing them to rely on broadband service at home, something that 5G could empower. Next-generation cellular technology, with 10 to 100 times the speed of 4G and fast responsiveness, could improve everything from simple video conferencing to telemedicine and advanced virtual and augmented reality. Gaming is an area that is expected to benefit from the responsiveness and high speeds of 5G.

Qualcomm is hosting a two-day Virtual Technology Summit in lieu of its annual in-person event in Hawaii. Rather than launching a deluge of new chips and news, the company is keeping its digital event focused on the capabilities of the Snapdragon 888. On Wednesday it featured deep technical dives into features like Snapdragon 888 camera.

5G enhancements

The world may be dealing with a widespread pandemic, but that sure won’t slow down the 5G rollout. The super-fast technology reached more customers this year than expected and will cover about 60% of the world’s population by 2026, according to an Ericsson report on Monday. That makes 5G the fastest deployed mobile network yet, the Swedish network giant said.

By the end of this year, there will be 218 million 5G subscriptions worldwide, above Ericsson’s June forecast of 190 million – which in itself was an increase from a previous estimate.

Many of those people use phones with Qualcomm processors. Even the new iPhone 12 line, which uses Apple’s own application processor, relies on Qualcomm modems to connect to 5G networks.

For Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, the focus is on four areas: 5G, artificial intelligence, games and camera, said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile technology, computing and infrastructure at Qualcomm, in an interview before the news of the Tuesday.

“It really completes all the use cases and capabilities that this device has,” said Katouzian. “We are concentrating on really critical technologies for low-power computing and communications.”

the The built-in modem is the Qualcomm X60., which is capable of downloading data at a speed of up to 7.5 Gbps and uploading information at a speed of up to 3 Gbps. The modem, unveiled in February, takes advantage of the super-fast but unreliable millimeter wave airwaves favored by Verizon and the slower, more stable sub-6 spectrum preferred by virtually every other carrier in the world. It supports many features that enable faster speeds and other network benefits.

“On the 5G side, the communication capabilities will be much better,” said Katouzian.

While the maximum download speed is not much faster than the previous generation, the X60 aims to increase the average speed in devices by adding different types of wireless signals. The X60 has the ability to aggregate the slowest sub-6 networks with the fastest mmWave spectrum, increasing overall performance.

The X60 also increases network capacity and expands coverage. Network operators will be able to double the maximum speeds below 6 in autonomous mode (that’s where the phone goes straight to 5G instead of today’s non-autonomous networks, where 4G works as the anchor to do the squeeze of initial hands between a phone and a network before switching the device to a 5G connection).

T-Mobile is a carrier that will benefit from carrier aggregation. Users of the first T-Mobile 5G phones I haven’t seen speeds much faster than 4G connectivity. But when T-Mobile can combine its different radio waves, users should see faster download and upload rates. This year’s 5G phone modem, the X55, couldn’t add that spectrum.

“The X60 is really the first modem that does all the 5G things you really need,” said O’Donnell of Technalysis. Qualcomm “now really has a modem that can be more successfully leveraged to get the best possible 5G speeds.”

And AI, games and camera

When it comes to artificial intelligence, the Snapdragon 888 includes Qualcomm’s new sixth-generation AI engine. Qualcomm redesigned its Hexagon processor, which it said provides a “fundamental leap in AI” compared to previous technology. It improves performance and energy efficiency and processes data at 26 tera operations per second, or TOPS. Qualcomm also included its second-generation Sensing Hub, which includes lower-powered, always-on AI processing.

AI “supports so many different applications that [are] widely used today, “even in photography and videography, Katouzian said. Really,” it just takes [out] all the headaches you had before in terms of choosing the correct parameters, putting it in the correct mode, making sure the lighting is correct, even recognizing scenes and faces and backgrounds and depth. All of those things are solved through AI capabilities. “

And the Snapdragon 888 features a faster Spectra image signal processor that allows users to capture photos in video at 2.7 gigapixels per second. That works out to roughly 120 photos in one second at 12MP resolution, which is up to 35% faster than the previous generation.

“That is huge,” said Katouzian. “When this ability arises, people will start to [develop] different apps and services associated with it. ”That could include things like razor-sharp video conferencing or giving users the ability to capture photos of what they are doing during the day and share them on social media with others, he said.

The Snapdragon 888 adds a third image processing module that allows flagship smartphones to handle three simultaneous video streams, all in 4K resolution with high dynamic range images. And for photos, the chip now uses artificial intelligence training to better judge the focus and brightness of the photo.

That will result in better low-light and night photos and action shots of something moving too fast or too slowly. By combining AI and the camera, the phone will automatically know which settings to select for each circumstance, and users will not have to “worry about technical details,” Katouzian said.

The processor too Supports TruePic technology that verifies that photos and videos are real, an effort to prevent deepfakes. And Qualcomm’s third-generation Snapdragon Elite Gaming technology that increases video effects on mobile devices.

Qualcomm’s new Kryo 680 CPU, the brain of the Snapdragon 888, has 25% more power and 25% more battery efficiency than its predecessor. The updated Adreno 660 graphics processor processes graphics 35% faster and is 20% more energy efficient.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 is expected to power most high-end Android phones next year. Companies planning to use the Snapdragon 888 in devices include Asus, Black shark, LG, Meizu, Motorola, Nubia, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo, Sharp, Vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE.

“I am pleased that our new flagship smartphone, Mi11, is one of the first devices with Snapdragon 888,” Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said in a press release. “This is another cutting-edge product from us and will be loaded with several hardcore technologies.”

Qualcomm didn’t specifically name Samsung, but the upcoming Galaxy S phones will likely include the Snapdragon 888 when they launch early next year. The first phone to have Snapdragon 865 from last year was the Galaxy S20.