Samsung Electronics exclusively manufactures Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen1 (1st generation) chipset.
Techradar, an Indian IT media, reported on the 3rd (local time) that Qualcomm made this announcement while recently unveiling the flagship product of the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chip built on a 4 nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) process.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon announced this at the Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021 Q&A session held in Kona, Hawaii and Hainan, China on the 1st. Earlier, Alex Katuzian, senior vice president of Qualcomm’s Mobile, Computing and Infrastructure business unit, confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 did not go to TSMC’s foundry.
“It brings unprecedented connectivity, photography, artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, sound, and security features to a smartphone,” said Katuzian. Snapdragon 8 gen1 consists of an integrated chip (SoC) such as a central processing unit (CPU) in charge of calculations, a graphics processing unit (GPU) in charge of graphics, and a modem chip in charge of communication.
Previously, Qualcomm had some chipsets, such as the Snapdragon 888 (2020), 865 (2019) and 855 (2018), manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan. In the future, the Taiwanese chip maker is said to continue partnering with Samsung Foundry to create top-of-the-line chipsets. In the past, Qualcomm has given three-digit names like ‘Snapdragon 888’ and ‘Snapdragon 765’. However, this time, the name was simplified to Snapdragon 8 and the system was changed to number the generation after it.
Accordingly, the new Snapdragon chipset is expected to be featured in the Galaxy S22 series of Samsung smartphones, which are expected to launch across the US, Asia and Africa in the new year.
The new flagship (next-generation) chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen1, is very important to Qualcomm as it sits in the value chain alongside Apple’s A15 Bionic as well as the recently launched Mediatek Mimenterity 9000 processor. There’s also Samsung’s own Exynos 2200, which will launch in the coming weeks. They all use a powerful yet power-efficient 4nm process.
When Snapdragon 8 Gen1 is installed, fast processing speed and advancement of photo technology are expected. Compared to the existing mobile AP, Snapdragon 888, CPU performance has improved by 20% and GPU performance by 30%, respectively. The recently announced 5th generation mobile communication (5G) modem-RF chip, the 4th generation Snapdragon X65, has a download speed of up to 10 Gbps (gigabit) and an upload speed of up to 3.5 Gbps. It also supports an 18-bit image/video processing (ISP) engine for the first time. It can process 4,000 times more camera data than its predecessor while taking 240 12-megapixel photos per second.
Meanwhile, there has been a recent report that TSMC is preparing a 3nm node to manufacture Apple’s M3 chips next year. Taiwanese trade media DigiTimes reported that TSMC is already in production testing of a new process known as the N3 line, but shipments are expected as early as 2023.
Experts are circulating that the iPhone 14, which will be released in 9-10 months, isn’t as powerful as the iPhone 13 because Apple is currently sticking with its 5nm chipset.
There is no doubt that the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chipset will be used in many high-end handsets after next year. The flagships of top brands like Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Motorola and Realme will include this chipset in their top devices planned for 2022.
Given that Apple could end up losing a year due to delays in chipset upgrades, Samsung and other Chinese competitors that make flagship devices can make the most of it.
Reporter Ho-Young Nam, Global Economics, nhy@g-enews.com
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