Qualcomm has just unveiled the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform on the first day of its annual summit ‘Snapdragon Tech Summit 2020’. This is the successor to last year’s Snapdragon 865 SoC. This new Soc was speculated to be called Snapdragon 875 until now.
Snapdragon 888 SoC comes with a third-generation Snapdragon X60 5G modem that brings both mmWave and sub-6 networks. This modem also supports 5G carrier aggregation, global multi-SIM, standalone, and non-standalone (SA and NSA) networks.
It also has an all-new Qualcomm Spectra ISP. It is capable of capturing photos and videos at up to 2.7 gigapixels per second that is around 120 photos at 12-megapixel. This makes the new ISP up to 35 percent faster than the ISP used in Snapdragon 865 SoC.
The company boasts better AI performance and improved power efficiency in AI processing. It also includes 2nd gen Qualcomm Sensing Hub for lower-power and always-on AI processing.
Snapdragon 888 SoC has 3rd gen Snapdragon Elite Gaming mobile engine that includes desktop forward rendering, updatable GPU drivers, and up to 144 fps performance.
Several smartphone manufacturers including Asus, Black Shark, LG, Lenovo, Meizu, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE have already signed up to bring this Soc in their flagship phones. Verizon and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo have also announced the support for this new Soc. We should know more details on future plans tomorrow.
Qualcomm is still the number 1 smartphone chip make with a 29% market share but its rival MediaTek is growing and managed to get a 26% market share in the second quarter of 2020. So, Qualcomm chips coming next year will be really important for the company.
Update: Here’s detailed specs and specs comparison with Snapdragon 865.
| SoC | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 888 |
| CPU | 1x Cortex-A77 @ 2.84GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex-A77 @ 2.42GHz 3x256KB pL2 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL2 4MB sL3 | 1x Cortex-X1 @ 2.84GHz 1x1024KB pL2 3x Cortex-A78 @ 2.42GHz 3x512KB pL2 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL2 4MB sL3 |
| GPU | Adreno 650 @ 587 MHz | Adreno 660 +35% perfonce boost |
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 698 15 TOPS AI (Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor) | Hexagon 780 26 TOPS AI (Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor) |
| Memory Controller | 4x 16-bit CH @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB/s or @ 2750MHz LPDDR5 / 44.0GB/s 3MB system level cache | 4x 16-bit CH @ 3200MHz LPDDR5 / 51.2GB/s 3MB system level cache |
| ISP/Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP 1x 200MP or 64MP with ZSL or 2x 25MP with ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst capture | Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP 1x 200MP or 84MP with ZSL or 64+25MP with ZSL or 3x 28MP with ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst capture |
| Encode/ Decode | 8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265 Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording | 8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265 Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording |
| Integrated Modem | (Paired with external X55 only) (LTE Category 24/22) DL = 2500 Mbps 7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 7000 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps | X60 integrated (LTE Category 24/22) DL = 2500 Mbps 7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 7500 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps |
| Mfc. Process | TSMC 7nm (N7P) | Samsung 5nm (5LPE) |
