Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 price exposed, "historically the most expensive" making wallets tremble
Qualcomm plans to use TSMC's 3nm "N3E" process in the fourth-generation Snapdragon 8 processor, replacing the previous ARM CPU cores with its own Oryon cores. This may lead to a 25%-30% price increase for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, potentially causing a price hike for Android flagship devices. Qualcomm remains optimistic about the redesigned processor, targeting a frequency of 4.26GHz. However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 does not support Scalable Matrix Extension (SME) functionality, unlike Apple's ARMv9 architecture
On June 13, Qualcomm's official website announced that the Snapdragon Summit 2024 will be held on October 21-23 at the Big Island of Hawaii.
Following Qualcomm's annual release schedule, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 flagship mobile processor is expected to be launched at the Snapdragon Summit 2024.
It is reported that Qualcomm plans to use TSMC's 3nm "N3E" process in the fourth generation Snapdragon 8 processor, and Oryon's self-developed core will replace the previously used ARM CPU core, leading the company to increase product prices to recover related costs.
Yesterday (July 5), a source named Yogesh Brar speculated that the price of the fourth generation Snapdragon 8 processor will increase by 25%-30% to $220 - $240 (Note: currently about 1602 - 1748 RMB).
For comparison, the price of the third generation Snapdragon 8 processor was $190 - $200 (currently about 1384 - 1457 RMB).
With the increase in chip prices, the pricing of this year's new generation of Android flagship phones is likely to rise accordingly, otherwise it will be difficult to control costs.
According to previous reports by IT Home, in May of this year, according to a source named jasonwill101, Qualcomm has redesigned the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor.
The new target frequency is 4.26GHz, this change is mainly to compete with Apple's M4 / A18 / Pro processors.
It is reported that Qualcomm is optimistic about the redesigned processor. They believe that with the help of TSMC's 3nm "N3E" process, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to achieve the target frequency.
However, IT Home noted that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 does not support Scalable Matrix Extension (SME) function, considering that Apple has adopted the ARMv9 architecture and supports "Scalable Matrix Extension" technology.
Since Qualcomm's competitors lack this feature, the new target frequency of 4.26GHz for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor may be to make up for the performance gap. However, it seems that smartphone manufacturers may need to adopt a larger heat dissipation area to keep the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 running at high performance continuously.
In June of this year, a Weibo blogger revealed that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip (SM8750) has set a more aggressive frequency, with a self-developed large core reaching 4.2GHz.
He also disclosed that the prototype in the phone manufacturer's lab can achieve a single-core score of three thousand and a multi-core score of ten thousand on GeekBench6, putting pressure on MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 (MT6991)
