Qualcomm's most powerful AI mobile chip is here! The Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU is the fastest in the world, with the "brain" NPU performance 12 times that of its predecessor

Author: Li Dan

Source: Hard AI

Mobile chip giant Qualcomm is enabling smartphones to have the performance of laptop-level powerful chips, ushering in a new era of on-device generative artificial intelligence (AI). Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, claiming to have the world's fastest mobile CPU and significantly improving the performance of handling AI tasks on mobile chips.

On Monday, October 21st, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip using TSMC's second-generation 3nm process technology, calling it the "most powerful and fastest mobile system-on-chip (SoC) ever." Qualcomm's flagship mobile platform now clearly demonstrates the significant progress it brings to the industry. Leading OEMs and smartphone brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO, Honor, iQOO, OnePlus, and others are preparing to launch phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite in the coming weeks.

Qualcomm introduced that the Snapdragon 8 Elite features the second-generation Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and enhanced Qualcomm Hexagon Neural Network Processor (NPU). The performance of Oryon CPU and Adreno GPU is up to three times higher than the previous generation chips, and the Hexagon NPU's performance is up to 12 times higher.

Second-generation Oryon CPU up to 4.32GHz, Adreno GPU efficiency increased by 40%

The basic clock speed of the main core of the second-generation Oryon CPU is up to 4.32 GHz, with a performance core of 3.53GHz, both based on a 64-bit architecture. Therefore, the CPU speed has increased by 45%, power efficiency has also increased by 45%, and it has the largest shared data cache in the mobile industry.

The second-generation Oryon CPU supports up to 24GB dual-channel LPDDR5x memory density, with a maximum speed of 5.3Gbps, enabling fast data retrieval. Qualcomm states that Oryon's overall energy efficiency has improved by 27%, meaning that gaming on a phone can be extended by up to 2.5 hours.

Complementing the new generation Oryon CPU is the Adreno GPU with a new slice architecture, each slice having dedicated memory. This means that the GPU achieves smoother performance, longer battery life for the phone, clearer graphics, and more realistic 3D environments. The GPU supports Unreal Engine 5.3 and Unreal Chaos Physics Engine, HDR games (10-bit color and Rec.2020), OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan 1.3, as well as hardware-accelerated H.265, VP9, and AV1 decoding.

Compared to the previous generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the GPU performance of Snapdragon 8 Elite has increased by 40%, efficiency has also increased by 40%, and the overall system power consumption has decreased by 27%.

Hexagon NPU AI efficiency increased by 40%, supporting multimodal generative AI and longer token input

If Oryon and Adreno are the heart of Snapdragon 8 Elite, then Hexagon NPU is the brain. Qualcomm's AI Engine has the fastest Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, which can increase AI performance by 45% and improve energy efficiency per watt by 45%. In addition, it supports multimodal generative AI and longer token input.

The new version of Hexagon NPU integrates scalar, vector, and tensor AI accelerator architecture, supporting INT4, INT8, INT16, and FP16 precision, and can utilize large language models (LLM) and large action models (LAM) to support the world's largest generative AI ecosystem.

Since Hexagon can process longer token inputs, it can consume more data and become an expert in handling your queries. Together with the Sensing Hub that supports always-on camera, microphone, and other sensor inputs, Hexagon can react to different types of information. Qualcomm stated that this means the 8 Elite can handle more requests on mobile phones.

AI-enhanced shooting, 5G download speed of 10Gbps, AI-enhanced Wi-Fi 7 connectivity

In addition to the above generative AI enhancements, Qualcomm's Spectra image signal processor (ISP) and Snapdragon X80 5G modem-RF system are also powered by AI technology.

Qualcomm stated that AI-driven cameras will redefine photography, enabling infinite semantic segmentation, AI fill light, AI pet photography, and video magic erasure effects. The three-core 18-bit processor Spectra ISP can create almost an infinite number of parts in photos (foreground, subject, background, etc.) and can enhance each element separately. For example, allowing the phone camera to recognize faces, hair, and clothing, and allowing users to edit each part separately.

Real-Time Insight AI can help capture natural skin tones, making them look like the real person in photos regardless of the subject's skin color. This also applies to pets, as the AI-based pet capture tool Pet Capture can take clearer photos when pets pass by quickly The mobile video camera will be able to capture 4K60 video in almost complete darkness and apply a video object eraser tool to remove unwanted background items from the video.

Spectra can also handle zero-latency spatial audio, real 3D audio gaming environments, and support more Bluetooth headphones, with support for aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, Aqstic audio codecs, low total harmonic distortion, and spatial audio with head tracking.

In terms of connectivity, Qualcomm's X80 5G modem and FastConnect 7900 Wi-Fi suite both feature AI. Qualcomm claims that AI has outstanding mathematical capabilities. Through accurate mathematical calculations, it helps wireless systems determine how best to manage various types of connections.

The X80 is a complete 5G modem-to-antenna module, equipped with six antennas for smartphones, supporting 6x carrier aggregation, and featuring an AI-based mmWave range extender. By combining sub-6GHz and mmWave technologies, 5G download speeds can reach 10Gbps, upload speeds can reach 3.5Gbps. Even indoors in concrete buildings, positioning accuracy is improved by 30%. With support for the three frequency bands of 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz, phones can reduce power consumption by 40% when using Wi-Fi and achieve speeds of up to 5.8Gbps for downloads.

FastConnect 7900 integrates Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband technologies into a single chip, providing end-user solutions such as digital keys, object positioning, and indoor navigation. AI can track performance and adjust as needed to maintain optimal connections