Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2: 40% faster CPU, 25% faster GPU, 8K 60FPS, Wi-Fi 7

Qualcomm has just announced its next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen2, which is a follow-up to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 and Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SoCs... packing in everything including the kitchen sink it seems.

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 is made on TSMC's fresh new 4nm process node, with the company tapping its latest Kyro CPU that packs up to 45% more CPU performance. Qualcomm is using a Cortex X3 primary core at up to 3.2GHz, as well as 4 x "performance" cores (2 x A710 and 2 x A715 both clocked at 2.8GHz) backed up by 3 x "efficiency" cores that are clocked at up to 2.0GHz.

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On the GPU side of things, Qualcomm promises up to 25% more performance in its new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC over its previous-gen design, while there's 40% more efficiency. Qualcomm has some big bragging points with its new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC, with the company pushing hardware-enabled ray tracing... interesting.

Ray tracing isn't new to PC and now current-gen console gamers, and while we've already had ray tracing in mobile games, the new hardware-based ray tracing inside of next-gen 2023 smartphones powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 will be interesting to see. We'll have to wait and see how that'll go.

The big concentration around smartphones is the camera, with Qualcomm continuing to push boundaries: the new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC has dedicated AI processing on the chip that is called "cognitive ISP". What this will do in reality, is apply features including facial recognition, autofocus, laying, and more -- where it's capable of selecting individual parts of the foreground and background -- all in real-time.

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Qualcomm wouldn't ever launch a new Snapdragon SoC without next-gen connectivity: with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 featuring an integrated 5G model that packs both mmWave and Sub-6GHz bandwidths, as well as the usual tweaks inside. We also have next-gen Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and while you won't have anything to use it with, in the coming years we'll see Wi-Fi 7 become commonplace.

Wi-Fi 7 adds on the Wi-Fi 6E that supports the new 6GHz band, as well as the usual 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands... so expect huge speeds, with Qualcomm promising up to 5.8Gbps on Snapdragon 8 Gen2-powered smartphones.

Qualcomm also has some other interesting tidbits inside of the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 including spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, meaning you can hear the sound move around you while you're listening to music, watching a TV show or movie, or playing a game. We also have Bluetooth 5.3 support, low energy audio, lossless sound quality, and more... meaning when it comes to audio, Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 has your back, or is that your ears?

We should expect to see Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 inside of next-gen 2023 smartphones.