Qualcomm's annual event "Qualcomm Tech Summit" announced the mobile flagship SoC "Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform"
Qualcomm of the United States is holding a Snapdragon-related technical seminar "Qualcomm Tech Summit 2021" in Hawaii for two days on December 1st and 2nd. On the first day, details of the next flagship SoC "Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform" for mobile were announced. We will explain the details of the new Snapdaragon SoC from the contents of the event that was also delivered online. [Image] GPU Adreno improves rendering performance and power saving performance Flagship SoC changes naming In recent years, Qualcomm has held this event at this time when winter begins, and has announced the flagship series of Snapdragon for mobile. Last year (2020), we announced the Snapdragon 888 series at an event that was held online entirely. You may have been wondering whether the SoC of the "8 Series", which has been steadily increasing so far, will be the next "890", or whether it will move up to the 900s in a breath. The name of the next SoC announced will be "Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform", and it seems that the number representing Generation will be incremented by one digit for a while. Although "5G" is omitted from the name of the platform, it seems that the decision was made because "it is natural that it is already compatible with 5G". The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform (hereafter, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) has made great strides in terms of cameras, AI, wireless sound, security, as well as 5G communication from the current Snapdragon 888 series. Let's look at each evolution. Covering all directions of 5G communication The 5G-compatible Snapdragon X65 modem / RF system and antenna module inherits the platform-integrated architecture of the Snapdragon 888 series and later announced in 2020, as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. 5G communication supports both millimeter wave and Sub-6. The modem section supports 3GPP release 16 with a maximum downlink communication speed of 10 Gbps and 5G standardization. Upstream communication also supports 5G carrier aggregation. The antenna module section uses AI to analyze how the user holds the smartphone in his hand. It improves the speed and stability of 5G data communication by 30% compared to conventional modules, and contributes to the reduction of power consumption related to communication. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is an SoC manufactured according to the most advanced 4nm process rules. It is even more integrated than the Snapdragon 888 series, which uses 5nm process rules, for improved performance and power efficiency. 18-bit compatible image processing. Supports 8K / HDR video capture Ziad Asghar, Product Management, Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, who took the stage at the seminar, said that devices such as smartphones and tablets that adopt the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC are not limited to communication. , Camera, AI, Sound, Gaming Experience, Advanced Security Performance, etc. Camera-related digital imaging technology launches a new brand packaged as "Snapdragon Sight Technology." In the future, smartphone makers will be able to use this as a keyword that differentiates premium camera machines that use Qualcomm's technology, such as mobile gaming "Snapdragon Elite Gaming" and audio "Snapdragon Sound". The image signal processor "Spectra ISP" integrated with 8 Gen 1 such as smartphones and tablets has stepped up to support 18 bits. The computing power compared to the 14-bit compatible Snapdragon 888 is 4,096 times higher. The three main ISPs enable enormous image data processing up to 3.2 gigapixels per second. For example, a smartphone equipped with a multi-camera unit makes full use of three lenses to take advanced photos and videos. In addition, "8K / HDR video capture" that covers HDR10 + with built-in dynamic metadata is also possible. This is the first element of a mobile SoC. Still image recording supports up to 64 million pixels. Attention is also paid to computational photography, which records 30 images of up to 12 million pixels in one shot when shooting still images in the dark, and produces bright and colorful images by compositing. It is said that the image when shooting in the dark is about 5 times brighter. It will also be possible to incorporate faster autofocus and automatic exposure settings, and more accurate and faster face recognition algorithms with up to 300 recognition points. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has a new "4th ISP". The built-in part is not the Spectra ISP, but the low power consumption AI processing block "Qualcomm Sensing Hub" provided by Snapdragon 865. The ISP that works with the AI auxiliary block is positioned as the "Always-On ISP" that is responsible for the sophistication of the face recognition system, mainly as a solution on the front camera side. For example, the user can unlock the screen by looking into the front camera without touching the screen. The 7th generation AI engine that enables advanced voice recognition processing Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is equipped with the latest 7th generation AI engine centered on the high-performance DSP "Hexagon". Utilizing the AI engine in conjunction with the Spectra ISP, it realizes blur processing filters and AR entertainment. The processing performance of the AI engine has improved about four times compared to the Snapdragon 888. The Tensor Accelerator, which enhances machine learning-related processing performance, is about twice as fast. The capacity of the shared memory has also been doubled, giving more processing power. Power consumption during driving has been improved by 1.7 times. Based on the abundant processing capacity of the new AI engine, it is possible to improve the accuracy of natural language processing by voice input as well as image processing. One example was voice pattern recognition technology, which is being collaboratively developed with Sonde Health. The microphone of the smartphone listens to the user's voice and determines the risk factors of health condition such as asthma. You will be able to incorporate advanced healthcare-related services such as sending alerts to users in cooperation with the app. Supports lossless transmission of Bluetooth audio. LE Audio is ready. Performance related to wireless communication and audio is centered on a detailed brush-up from Snapdragon 888. Inheriting the subsystem "Qualcomm FastConnect 6900" that controls Wi-Fi / Bluetooth wireless communication other than cellular, it supports Wi-Fi 6 as well as the extended standard Wi-Fi 6E like Snapdragon 888. The maximum communication speed is 3.6 Gbps. Bluetooth wireless audio is ready for "LE Audio", which is expected to be officially released as a next-generation profile. With LE Audio technology, one smartphone equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is equipped with "broadcast" that can send audio to multiple wireless headsets at the same time, and a function that allows stereo recording on the headset side. We can expect a wide range of functional improvements from mobile communication to entertainment. The "aptX Lossless" codec announced by Qualcomm in September 2021 is a technology that realizes high-quality audio transmission that reaches "CD quality" of up to 44.1kHz / 16bit via Bluetooth connection. It seems that it will be possible to use it in combination with a next-generation smartphone that supports Snapdragon Sound and a Bluetooth audio device. Security functions that realize SoC-integrated SIMs and digital keys for automobiles In mobile gaming-related fields, we have brushed up the GPU "Adreno," which is the core of graphics processing. Compared to Snapdragon 888, processing speed is improved by about 30% and power efficiency is improved by about 25%. On the graphics side, it is equipped with the latest generation "Variable Rate Shading Pro" that improves rendering processing efficiency, and "Adreno Frame Motion Engine" technology displays videos smoothly. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will be the first Snapdragon series SoC to integrate the "Trust Management Engine" that implements the function to use terminals such as smartphones and tablets more securely. It will be possible to realize an integrated SIM (iSIM) that manages mobile communication-related connection / authentication information, which was previously handled by card-type SIMs, as part of the SoC and operates more securely. In addition, we support Google's new standard "Android Ready SE (Secure Element) Alliance" for applications that require high security, such as digital keys for automobiles and digital driver's licenses using Android smartphones. Google and Qualcomm also announced strategies to strengthen collaboration in the area of neural network development. We will expand the neural architecture search (NAS) integrated into the machine learning platform "Vertex AI" announced by Google at the 2021 Developer Conference (Google I / O) by incorporating it into Qualcomm's SoC. At Google I / O in 2022, there may be new announcements by Qualcomm and Google. New SoC-equipped smartphones are about to be announced and released Commercial terminals equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip may be released by Qualcomm's OEM partners as early as the end of 2021. Xiaomi's Lei Jun, who sent a video message to the seminar, announced that the next flagship smartphone "Xiaomi 12" series will be the first Android smartphone equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Among Japanese smartphone makers, Sony and Sharp are proclaiming themselves to develop terminals equipped with Snapdragon Gen 1. Qualcomm's Ziad Asghar hopes that the Snapdragon series of SoCs, which are currently widely used in mobile terminals, will be expanded to "new devices that have not yet been seen" that connect consumers and the virtual space world of "Metaverse". I said I wanted to. Motorola's Ruben Castano, who took the stage as a guest at the event, is the next generation that utilizes the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform in the development team "312 LABS" that specializes in XR / VR / AR related solutions launched by the company. Declared to focus on the development of lightweight smart glasses. It may be time for Snapdragon's latest flagship SoC to make another big leap.
Atsushi Yamamoto
