Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite: 'World's Fastest Mobile CPU'
The new mobile platform utilizes AI to deliver 40% improved performance
Qualcomm has unveiled its newest Snapdragon mobile platform - the Snapdragon 8 Elite - and the company claims this is the fastest mobile CPU available.
This announcement came during Qualcomm's annual Snapdragon summit, which runs from October 21 to 23. The event showcases the company’s latest innovations, highlighting improvements from AI-enhanced photography to better-integrated AI services.
Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 8 Elite offers a 45% increase in CPU performance and a 44% improvement in power efficiency compared to its predecessors. If these claims hold, the chip could significantly close any performance gap between Android and iOS devices. In other words, no matter how much you think your phone can handle now, any new phone with this chip easily trumps that.
One interesting highlighted upgrade was aimed at photography enthusiasts who will love the improvements made to image processing and video quality.
With its new AI capabilities, Qualcomm promises enhancements to both photo and video quality. Expect clearer images, especially in low light, and smarter editing features that can help you get the perfect shot without needing advanced editing skills.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is also supposedly designed for better power efficiency, meaning your phone can last longer between charges. Considering most Android phones go up to about 5000mAh and reportedly already last 8 hours a day, this could mean having phones that last up to 12 hours without needing to charge.
All these major improvements are supposedly coming with the standard improvements we get year after year like a performance boost to help your device handle complicated task(s) and faster loading times between apps.
Additionally, with the word "AI" being thrown around a lot, as expected, it was also announced that the Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite would feature the Qualcomm AI Engine with Multimodal Gen AI designed to enhance capabilities in understanding voice, text, and images making it easier to control your smart home devices or get quick answers to your questions.
The company has made some big promises, much like those made when Apple launched the A18 Bionic chip. While both chips emphasize AI capabilities, the A18 Bionic is specifically optimized for handling AI tasks, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Elite incorporates AI features as part of its overall performance enhancements.
Soon everyone will get a chance to experience them firsthand. Major phone brands like HONOR, ASUS, REDMAGIC, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Samsung have already announced upcoming phones with this technology, like HONOR's Magic 7 Series launching as soon as October 30th—just under 10 days away!
All these improvements in mobile technology highlight that AI is becoming the future of our devices. Companies like MediaTek, with its Dimensity 9300, and Samsung, with its Exynos 2400 chip, have been leveraging AI in their processing for some time. Now, Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chip further solidifies this trend.
With AI integrated into everything from VR headsets to the core of our smartphones, it will be fascinating to see how this evolution unfolds. As time progresses, we’ll find out if these advancements truly live up to the hype or if they are merely incremental updates to the user interface.
Kelechi Edeh
