Qualcomm has separated the Snapdragon brand from the Qualcomm Snapdragon. Concerning the chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the manufacturer’s latest flagship chipset was released on November 30 as part of Snapdragon’s Tech Summit event. The chipset address the thermal management issue that plagued the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the first Snapdragon chipset to have ARM’s most powerful CPU yet, the Cortex X2. It is worth noting that the Snapdragon 888 includes a Cortex X1 CPU, which was the root cause of the thermal management issue. Let’s explore how Qualcomm addresses those issues with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. We compared the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with the Snapdragon 888 chipsets in this post.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Snapdragon 888
CPU
Starting from the CPU, the part which is responsible for carrying day to day tasks. As mentioned earlier, the Snapdragon 888 5G flaunts a Cortex X1 primary core, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 comes with the upgraded Cortex X2 primary core. The clock speed of the primary core jumps from 2.8GHz offered in the Snapdragon 888 to 3.0GHz in Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The Snapdragon 888 has Cortex A78 secondary core and Cortex A55 power efficiency cores, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has three Cortex A710 secondary cores at 2.5GHz and four Cortex A510 power efficiency cores at 1.80GHz. On paper, the Snapdragon 8Gz Gen 1 obviously looks better. We have to wait for the proper review to check their real-life performance.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 promises to have 20% faster CPU performance (or 30% better CPU power efficiency) compared to the Snapdragon 888.
GPU
GPU, the Graphics processing unit, is responsible for all the tasks related to gaming and multitasking. The more powerful GPU you have, the smoother graphics-intensive tasks will be. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has Adreno 660 GPU, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 carries next-gen Adreno GPU (730?). The Adreno 660 GPU was already overkilled for the majority of users. Let’s check on how Adreno 730 will perform in the real world.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 promises to have 30% faster graphics (or 25% greater GPU power efficiency) compared to the Snapdragon 888.
Fabrication Process
Smaller the fabrication process, the lesser the power consumption and heating. However, when it comes to heating, the Snapdragon 888 was an exception. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset was based on 5nm Samsungs’ fabrication process and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is based on Samsung’s 4nm fabrication process. As the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has a smaller fabrication size, it will consume less power.
| SoC | Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Snapdragon 888 |
| CPU | 1x 3.0GHz (Cortex-X2) 3x 2.5GHz (Cortex-A710) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex-A510) |
1x 2.84GHz (Cortex-X1) 3x 2.4GHz (Cortex-A78) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Next-gen Adreno (730?) | Adreno 660 |
| Process | 4nm | 5nm |
| ISP | Triple 18-bit Spectra ISP | Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP |
| Camera Unit | 1x 200MP or 108MP with ZSL or 64+36MP with ZSL or 3x 36MP with ZSL |
1x 200MP or 84MP with ZSL or 64+25MP with ZSL or 3x 28MP with ZSL |
| RAM | LPDDR5 @ 3,200MHz | LPDDR5 @ 3,200MHz |
| Modem | X65 integrated
(5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) |
X60 integrated
(5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) |
| Video capture | 8K @ 30fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fp |
8K @ 30fps 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fps |
Conclusion
Talking about the final verdict, we don’t have anything to say yet. Yes, on paper, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is indeed an improvement over its predecessor Snapdragon 888. But we are curious to know about the thermal management of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as it has a more powerful Cortex X2 primary core.
Thanks a lot for reading the post till the end. Do let us know your thoughts on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset in the comment section down below.
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