During these days the Snapdragon Technology Summit event has been held in Hawaii, where the manufacturer Qualcomm announces its novelties for next year. During the presentation, we are left with the launch of the Snapdragon 855 processor . The company's new processor for top-of-the-range mobile devices.
This processor is developed under a 7nm process , something that happens for the first time in this manufacturer. The processor Snapdragon 8cx under 7nm, but this is focused on the use of mobile convertible devices (laptops, tablets, etc) . Next we will comment the characteristics of the Snapdragon 855 , but it will not be until the middle of 2019 that we will see it equipped in commercial devices.
The new Snapdragon 855 processor is ready for the 5G.
During the presentation of the Snapdragon 855 it was expected to appear with the trade name of 8150, but has finally followed the 8xx nomenclature of its predecessors. It is the most powerful Qualcomm processor for 2019 and is created for the first time under 7 nm.
It will be the first processor with support for 5G multigigabit networks. They have incorporated the Snapdragon X24 LTE modem that offers connectivity with advanced 4G networks. In addition, the Snapdragon X50 5G modem is integrated to support 5G networks . This double modem guarantees compatibility with mobile networks in different countries.
Integration of the NPU (Neuronal Processing Unit).
It is also the first time that we see that the manufacturer chooses to use an NPU (Neuronal Processing Unit) in its processor. This unit allows to execute the tasks of Artificial Intelligence in an optimized way obtaining a higher performance.
According to the manufacturer, the integrated NPU is the Hexagon 690, which offers twice the performance of the competition. Although they have not made clear with which unit of the competition they have made this comparison. What we do know is that Google has collaborated with Qualcomm to develop this unit.
The Spectra 380 ISP chip will be responsible for image processing.
Qualcomm has not lost sight of the importance of cameras, since mobile phones increasingly incorporate a greater number of sensors. The chip responsible for graphic processing will be the Spectra 380 ISP that offers us the following improvements:
- Allows the use of depth maps.
- 4K video recording at 60 frames per second, but with a lower energy consumption.
- Support for double sensor of 22Mpx or a single sensor of 48Mpx.
- Slow motion video of 480 frames per second.
Processor with three clusters and great performance of the graphics processor.
The Snapdragon 855 has eight cores distributed in three clusters that will allow you to optimize power and consumption according to demand. The first cluster consists of four cores at 1.78 GHz that will allow executing low-power tasks. For high performance tasks, a cluster with three cores at 2.4 GHz will be used. The third cluster has a single core at 2.4 GHz. This clustering and 7nm manufacturing will give the processor greater performance and efficiency energetic
In the graphic section we find the Adreno 640 GPU , which on this occasion is optimized to support augmented reality. It promises a performance superior to 20% with respect to the Areno 630. It also incorporates the Snapdragon Elite Gaming feature, which will optimize the use for games.
They have also confirmed that the first mobile that will equip this Snapdragon 855 will be the OnePlus that will be launched throughout 2019.