Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2018 is going on this week. There are so many 5G related announcements on the way. Qualcomm finally announced Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform in this summit which is based on the 7nm process. It will work with Snapdragon X50 modem which is the world’s first commercial 5G mobile platform. The 4th generation on-device machine learning AI feature will enhance the ISP, gaming, multimedia experience, and power management.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Details
This time the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC will be included life-like XR (extended reality) experiences that will enrich the visual experience between the real and virtual world. According to the company, the SDM855 chip performs 3 times better in power than its predecessor Snapdragon 845 chip. The processor also includes the world’s first Computer Vision (CV) ISP which delivers 4K HDR video with portrait mode. It’s also world’s first chipset to capture HDR10+ video.
The company also announced Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor, which features ultrasonic waves for in-display fingerprint sensors. Whereas, the optical sensors only use display lights for the under-display fingerprint sensors.
OnePlus Will Introduce First 5G Smartphone With Qualcomm
We all know about the good partnership with OnePlus and Qualcomm. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau again reveals the relationship with Qualcomm in the Tech Summit 2018. The smartphone manufacturer announced that OnePlus will be the first company to bring Snapdragon 855-powered flagship smartphone in 2019. That means the OnePlus 2019 Flagship smartphone will be a powerful device than all of its predecessor.
OnePlus is partnering with EE (British mobile network operator) to deliver a 5G ready flagship smartphone in early 2019. A few months ago, the OnePlus 6T device was launched with great specifications at a competitive price tag. There is no confirmation about the device specifications and design. But based on the traditional two flagship models in every year, we can expect the OnePlus 7 in early 2019.
CPU Overview:
The 4th-generation multi-core AI engine brings advanced AI, gaming, visuals, graphics, power management, Wi-Fi etc all placed in one processor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Artificial Intelligence Engine (AIE) SoC includes below-mentioned features:
- Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU
- Supports LPDDR4x memory (4×16bit) up to 2133 MHz speed
- Adreno 640 GPU
- GPU Supports APIs: OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1, DX12
The Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU is based on the 7nm process which is a 64-bit architecture. The octa-core processor clocked up to 2.84 GHz frequency.
Qualcomm DSP Technology:
- Qualcomm Hexagon 690 processor
- Hexagon Vector Accelerator
- Hexagon Tensor Accelerator
- Hexagon Voice Assistant
- All-Ways Aware technology
Cellular Modem:
The SDM855 SoC uses Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE modem with LTE category 20 and 13 for uplink. The downlink features 7×20 MHz up to 4×4 MIMO with a peak download speed of 2 Gbps. The chip supports LTE FDD, LTE TDD, WCDMA, CDMA 1x, GSM/EDGE, Dual SIM Dual VoLTE etc.
Wi-Fi Standards:
The next-gen octa-core chip supports Wi-Fi 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax-ready, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n. It supports spectral bands like 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz up to 10 Gbps of peak speed. The Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6-ready technology features 8×8 spatial streams, 8×8 sounding, WPA3 security support.
It also features the Target Wake-up Time, Dual-band simultaneous (DBS). While the Qualcomm 60 GHz Wi-Fi technology features Wire-equivalent latency and Always-on Wi-Fi sensing.
Camera Features:
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip features dual 14-bit CV-ISPs, hardware acceleration, and Qualcomm Spectra 380 ISP. The ISP supports up to 20 MP dual camera, up to 32 MP single camera. It also supports HEIF photo, Slow Motion, and HEVC Video capture capability in HDR10+, HDR10, HLG formats.
Audio Formats:
The chipset features general audio standards such as:
- Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology
- Qualcomm Broadcast Audio technology
- Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
- Qualcomm aptX audio technology
- aptX Adaptive playback support
Connectivity Standards:
- Bluetooth V5.0, up to 2 Mbps speed
- NFC (Near Field Communications) supported
- Qualcomm RF (Radio Frequency) 5G/4G modem-to-antenna
- QTM052 5G mmWave antenna
- Qualcomm Envelope Tracking
- Supports GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, Dual frequency GNSS
- USB 3.1, USB-C port supported
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology
Snapdragon 855 Chip: Other Features
Qualcomm enables Hexagon Voice Assistant accelerator which supports two wake words. Such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Baidu, Cortana etc. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite Gaming experience delivers the boosted performance with real-life feel and depth.
The next-gen Adreno 640 GPU, Vulkan 1.1, HDR Gaming, and Physically Based Rendering will bring the user experience to the next level. It’s the first chip to feature mobile gaming with Vulkan 1.1 and also provides first true HDR gaming on mobile devices. The world’s first CV-ISP delivers real-time object tracking.
While the Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR) software delivers sharp and true-tone color photos even in low light. The SDM855 chip powered smartphone camera can capture the world’s first HDR10+ videos and world’s first 4K HDR videos with Portrait Mode (Bokeh). That means now we can capture cinema-grade videos from our mobile devices easily.
