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As amazing as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is, I can’t wait for the Gen 4
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OPINION: The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a particularly exciting chipset not only because of its raw performance gains, but also because of its focus on Generative AI. However, it’s next year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 I’m most excited for.
Announced atSnapdragon Summit 2023, theSnapdragon 8 Gen 3is the new flagship chipset that’ll likely be used by mostpremium smartphonesset for release in 2024. As well as the usual chipset gains – a 30% boost to CPU, 25% boost to GPU speeds and a whopping 98% increase on the NPU front – the chipset focuses on Generative AI with some pretty cool tricks.
The chipset should allow smartphones to run Generative AI tasks like photo expansion, removal of elements from photos in a similar way to Google’s Magic Eraser, improved AI zoom, better AI companions and much more, and with such huge gains in AI performance, this is all done on-device with no cloud connectivity required.
But while that’s exciting, it’s next year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 that I’m most excited about. While a total mystery for now, Qualcomm did tease one particularly interesting feature about it at Snapdragon Summit; it’ll use the Oryon CPU that’s present in the newSnapdragon X ElitePC chipset that the company claims can best evenApple’s M2 Max chipsetin benchmark tests.
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While Snapdragon-equipped Android smartphones aren’t exactly slouches, they do still fall quite behindApple’s A17 Proand evenA16 Bionicin most benchmark tests – and by quite some way too. Take a look at how theiPhone 15 Probests the competition in our benchmark tests below:
However, that could all change with the introduction of a Qualcomm Oryon CPU. We’re only now being treated to glimpses at what the Snapdragon X Elite can do on the PC front, with claims that the CPU can not only best the most popular ARM chipsets and even x86 CPUs like the Intel i9-13980HX in both single-tread and multi-thread tasks, with both better power capabilities and better power efficiency, but even Apple’s top-end M2 Max.
While the iPhone doesn’t sport Apple’s desktop-level M-series chips – that’s just for Macs and a select few models of iPad – it’s clear that the DNA lives strong within the A16 Bionic and A17 Pro chipsets, helping them secure those huge gains over the Snapdragon competition.
However, given just how well the Snapdragon X Elite seems to perform on PC, we could expect similar gains from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 alongside all the cool Generative AI features introduced on this year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Combined, they could pose a serious threat to Apple.
So, while I can’t wait to get my hands on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-equipped smartphone – likely theXiaomi 14, which has been teased for later this week – it’s next year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 that’ll truly change what’s possible on an Android smartphone.
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Lewis is the Mobile Editor of Trusted Reviews with plenty of phone experience, from the Nokia 3210 to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He has been in the tech industry writing about phones, headphones, tablets,…
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
