Qualcomm has launched its new flagship processor for smartphones – Snapdragon 855. The chipmaker announced the new processor during the Snapdragon Technology Summit in Hawaii. Company launched the now-predecessor Snapdragon 845 at the same event exactly an year ago.
Features
The new 7nm chip features a new three cluster design of Kryo 485 CPU. The octa-core processor is built in an arrangement of 1+3+4 cores.
- One Kryo Prime core clocked at 2.85GHz,
- Three performance cores clocked at 2.4GHz,
- Four efficiency cores clocked at 1.80GHz.
All of them are ARM’s Cortex custom cores where the first two Prime and Performance cores are derived from Cortex A76, and the efficiency cores are Cortex A55. Each CPU core has an L2 Cache, a shared L3 Cache and a System Cache.
Graphics Performance
According to the company’s claims, the new Snapdragon 855 is 45% faster than previous generations. With 20% boost in graphics performance, the new chip comes with Adreno 640 GPU. The GPU also features 50 more ALUs which should help improving performance in games by huge margin. Adreno 640 supports up to 120 frames per second in games and it also brings support of Vulkan graphics API 1.1.
Qualcomm has stated that the new Snapdragon 855 will support Dolby Vision, Rec 2020, 10-bit color depth. HDR10+ will also be supported that will help in improving photography on smartphones.
On-Device AI
Focusing on in-device AI, Qualcomm said that SD855 features Hexagon 690 DSP to give 1.2x quad-threaded scalar performance over the predecessor. It supports twice as many Vector extensions over SD845.
In addition, the Hexagon 690 will also allow the processor to increase AR, VR and XR functionality. Qualcomm has added a dedicated AI engine with a dedicate Tensor Accelerator on the Hexagon 690. The AI engine is capable of 7TOPs (Trillion Operations Per Second) allowing heterogeneous AI hardware acceleration. It also adds support for multiple deep learning frameworks. While building it all, the company had its focus on Google’s Neural Network API.
Photography
The Snapdragon 855 features a new Spectra 380 ISP (Image Signal Processor) which is capable of recording videos on 4K resolution at 60fps with Bokeh. Do not miss the point here, as this is the first thing to come through a smartphone. It’s “Bokeh” in videos, that Spectra 380 could achieve with a second image pipeline for background differentiation.
Spectra 380 will support tri-camera support with 3x zoom lens and three different focal lengths (wide-angle, super wide-angle, and telephoto)
The new processor will record videos in 4K HDR that will capture 1 billion shades of colors. In addition the videos recording will support HDR10+
According to Qualcomm, the new processor will be 2x power efficient in tracing and detecting bodies or objects. Likewise, the Snapdragon 855 will be 3x power efficient in recording 4K videos.
Just Check below how Snapdragon 855 is different from its predecessors
Snapdragon 855 vs Snapdragon 845 vs Snapdragon 835
| Snapdragon 855 | Snapdragon 845 | Snapdragon 835 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Kryo 485 (Custom ARM Cortex) | Kryo 385 (Custom ARM Cortex) | Kryo 280 (Custom ARM Cortex) |
| Process | 7nm FinFET | 10nm LPP FinFET | 10nm LPE FinFET |
| CPU Config | 1x 2.84GHz (Cortex A76) 3x 2.42GHz (Cortex A76) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55) |
4x 2.8GHz (Cortex-A75) 4x 1.7GHz (Cortex-A55) |
4x 2.45GHz (Cortex-A73) 4x 1.9GHz (Cortex-A53) |
| GPU | Adreno 640 | Adreno 630 | Adreno 540 |
| DSP | Hexagon 690 | Hexagon 685 with HVX | Hexagon 682 with HVX |
| ISP | Spectra 380 | Spectra 280 | Spectra 180 |
| Camera support | 48MP single / 24MP dual Hybrid AF, HDR video. multi-frame noise reduction |
32MP single / 16MP dual Hybrid AF, HDR video. multi-frame noise reduction |
32MP single / 16MP dual Hybrid AF, HDR video |
| Video capture | 4K UHD, HDR @ 60fps, video portrait mode (Bokeh) |
4K UHD @ 60fps | 4K UHD @ 30fps |
| Video playback | 8K, 360 degree, 4K up to 120fps, 10-bit, H.265 and VP9 video decoder | 4K UHD @ 60fps, 10-bit H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) | 4K UHD @ 60fps, 10-bit H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) |
| Charging | Quick Charge 4+ | Quick Charge 4+ | Quick Charge 4.0 |
| Modem | X24 LTE 2000 Mbps down 316 Mbps up |
x20 LTE 1200 Mbps down 150 Mbps up |
X16 LTE 1000 Mbps down 150 Mbps up |
