Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC With Ray Tracing Unveiled: What's Changed?

Qualcomm's highly anticipated flagship processor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, has finally gone official. The latest chipset will succeed the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, which was introduced in May 2022. The SoC (System on Chip) packs in new ARM high-performance cores, 18-bit ISP, Ray Tracing, new AI, and advanced connectivity features, among others. It will power a host of premium smartphones from December 2022 to all the way through 2023. Let's have a detailed look at its specifications and how it compares with its predecessor.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: What's Changed?

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was built on Samsung's 4nm fabrication process, which was plagued with overheating and performance issues. Qualcomm bid adieu to Samsung and switched to TSMC's foundry for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which was able to tame the Snapdragon efficiently. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, codenamed SM8550-AB, will also benefit from the TSMC's 4nm fabrication process. However, the brand hasn't specified if it's using the second-generation 4nm process as the Mediatek Dimensity 9200.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is equipped with a different core configuration compared to its precursor. It comes with a 1+4+3 core configuration as opposed to the 1+3+4 setup of its predecessor. The chipset packs in the new ARM Cortex-X3 prime core clocked at 3.2GHz, accompanied by four new ARM Cortex-A715 mid-cores clocked at 2.8GHz. Lastly, it comprises three refreshed ARM Cortex-A510 cores clocked at higher 2.0GHz frequencies. In comparison, the older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is 35 percent faster while being 40 percent more efficient compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. However, expect the performance uplift to be around 10 percent when pitted against the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

The new chipset features the Adreno 740 GPU with hardware ray tracing and is claimed to be 15 percent faster and 10 percent more power efficient compared to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1's Adreno 730 GPU. Furthermore, the Adreno 740 GPU is the first to bring Vulkan 1.3 and OpenGL ES 3.2 support. Also, expect the chipset to set the memory benchmarks on fire as it supports LPDDR5x RAM up to 4200MHz and UFS 4.0 internal memory support.

Owing to the advancements in the GPU department, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is capable of driving displays with QHD+ resolution up to 144Hz or 4K screens up to 60Hz. Talking about its imaging prowess, the processor comes with an 18-bit triple ISP that can capture over 3.2 gigapixels per second. It enables up to three 36MP cameras or a single 200MP camera for simultaneous image capture. Moreover, it can record 4K videos at 60fps and 8K videos at 30fps.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: Connectivity Features

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a beast in terms of connectivity features. It boasts the new Snapdragon X70 5G modem that supports mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G. The modem comes with global 5G multi-SIM and Dual-SIM Dual-Active (DSDA) 5G+5G and 5G+4G support. The peak 5G downlink speeds max out at 10Gbps and the uplink at 3.5Gbps. Furthermore, it features the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard (802.11be), which can be utilized by smartphone manufacturers when it is commercially available. Other notable connectivity features include Bluetooth v5.3 with LE Audio, BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, NavIC, GPS, QZSS, NFC, and USB Type-C 3.1, among others.