The next flagship chipset from Qualcomm that’ll power a whole raft of flagship phones in 2021 won’t be the heavily rumoured Snapdragon 875, instead, it’ll be the Snapdragon 888. Here’s what we know about the upcoming platform.
Qualcomm’s massive end of year launch is usually held in a lavish hotel sitting on a Hawaiian beach. As you’d probably expect, things are a lot different this year with the show taking place solely online. Don’t let that give you the impression Qualcomm hasn’t got anything to announce though, because it very much has.
While most of the rumours suggested we’d see the Snapdragon 875 launched as the successor to the widely-popular 865, instead we’ve got the Snapdragon 888. This is arguably the most important chipset release of the year, as it’ll go on to power most of the big flagship devices from Sony, LG, Oppo, Xiaomi and more.
The chip is Qualcomm’s answer to the competing Apple A14 Bionic you’ll find inside the iPhone 12 and Kirin 9000 that powers the Huawei Mate 40 Pro.
While Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 888, we’ll have to wait until later on in its Tech Summit to hear the full details and skills of the chip. We do already have a few tidbits of information though.
The Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform packs the new X60 5G modem for global mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G coverage across all major bands. There’s also a new AI engine (the 6th-generation AI engine, to be precise) with improved performance and efficiency and a whole load of gaming enhancements thanks to the new Adreno GPU.
Computational photography is everywhere and it’s improving the snaps you take on all kinds of devices. With the Snapdragon 888, phones will be able to capture up to 120, 12MP snaps per second – that’s 37% faster than before.
“Creating premium experiences takes a relentless focus on innovation. It takes long term commitment, even in the face of immense uncertainty,” said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated “It takes an organization that’s focused on tomorrow, to continue to deliver the technologies that redefine premium experiences.”
Xiaomi has teased the Mi 11, the brand’s next flagship phone that’ll be powered by the Snapdragon 888.
“Snapdragon 888 is the most powerful mobile platform from Qualcomm Technologies ever. In addition to the industry leading 5G connectivity, it has brought groundbreaking breakthroughs and innovations in AI, gaming and camera. I’m glad that our new flagship smartphone Mi11 will be one of the first devices with Snapdragon 888″ said Lei Jun, Founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Xiaomi.
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Qualcomm also said many other OEMs provided support for the Snapdragon 888 platform, including Asus, Lenovo, Motorola, Realme, Vivo and ZTE.
We’ll learn a lot more about the Snapdragon 888 during Day 2 of the Tech Summit, which begins tomorrow (December 2).