- Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 unveiled with 31 percent faster CPU and 49 percent better GPU performance
- It uses Kryo cores instead of custom Oryon ones found on the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
- The 8s Gen 4 will power upcoming mid-range phones and is confirmed to launch with phones in April.
Qualcomm has finally taken the wraps off its latest chipset, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. It is the successor to last year’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and offers substantial performance improvements. Made to power mid-range phones, this flagship killer chipset might just power your next phone. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Offers Substantial Performance Improvements.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is based on TSMC’s 4nm process and uses Kryo cores instead of the custom Oryon found in the 8 Elite. Furthermore, the processor has a 1+3+2+2 core configuration with a maximum clock speed of 3.2GHz. This is an upgrade over the 3GHz speed of the 8s Gen 3.
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It consists of 1 Kryo Prime core at 3.4 GHz (Cortex X4), 3 Kryo Performance cores (Cortex A720) at 3.01GHz, 2 Kyro Performance cores (Cortex A720) at 2.8GHz, and 2 Kryo Performance cores (Cortex A720) at 2.02GHz. This is the same core configuration as the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and last year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Qualcomm claims this offers 31 percent faster CPU performance.
The main upgrade, however, is the GPU. It uses an Adreno 825 GPU, which sits just a notch below the Adreno 830 in the 8 Elite. Qualcomm says it has 49 percent faster GPU performance than the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. Apart from the performance gains, you also get real-time ray tracing, global illumination (realistic lighting), shadows, lighting, and reflections.
The energy consumption has been reduced by 39%. For gamers, there’s Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 and Qualcomm Adaptive Performance Engine which maintain performance while reducing power consumption.
Multi-Modal AI and Cameras
No product launch is complete without AI features. You get 44% better AI performance on the Snapdraogn 8s Gen 4. This can help it run multimodal Gen AI models, such as Gemini and ChatGPT, locally on the device.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 supports up to a 320-megapixel single camera sensor, an upgrade over the 200-megapixel one on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. Its Hexagon NPU can also take better pictures and recognize up to 250 different objects at once.
Apart from color correcting images in low light, it has Night Vision 2.0 for recording 4K 30 FPS videos in dimly lit conditions. In terms of connectivity, there’s the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity.
For Audiophiles, there’s Snapdragon Sound Suite, which comes with Qualcomm aptX audio for lossless audio quality. There’s also Qualcomm eXpanded Personal Area Network (XPAN), which is useful for connecting to Wi-Fi earbuds like the Xiaomi Buds 6
Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Upcoming Devices
The first Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 will be used by some Chinese OEMs. This includes Redmi, iQOO, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Meizu.
The first smartphones with the chipset will launch next month, with the iQOO Z10 Turbo Pro confirmed to be the first phone. It will debut in China later this month. If the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is anything to go by, we can certainly expect the 8s Gen 4 to be a success.
