This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Qualcomm just launched new Always Connected PCs with Snapdragon 835 processors, simply the company isn't resting on its laurels. It's too appear the upcoming Snapdragon 845, and a bevy of improvements to proceed with it.

The company hasn't said much most the CPU cadre itself, which is almost certainly based on the same Cortex-A73 applied science that Qualcomm debuted with the Snapdragon 835. While 10nm refinements and another pattern pass could better clock speeds or reduce power consumption, I wouldn't look a huge proceeds in raw CPU performance.

Qualcomm is focusing on improving its video and image processing, including adding the ability to tape 4K HDR footage at up to 60fps on your telephone. The company also claims the Snapdragon 845 will be able to perform faster AI processing than the 835, courtesy of its Hexagon DSP. This implies the DSP has been upgraded again, though Qualcomm didn't share specifics. While the DSP isn't more often than not as sexy as other components, Qualcomm has put a off-white bit of piece of work into refining the compages and making it more accessible to developers over the last few years.

Qualcomm-10nm

Qualcomm volition stick with 10nm for another generation, but that'south non unusual these days.

The Snapdragon 845 will support what Qualcomm calls "UltraHD Premium," including the Rec. 2022 color infinite and 10-bit HDR. The Adreno 630 GPU within the phone is similarly expected to exist a modest operation heave of up to thirty percent in some cases. The Snapdragon 845 volition also be paired with Qualcomm's new Spectra 280 image signal processor (Internet access provider), which supports depth-sensing cameras, infrared illuminators, an IR photographic camera, and a 16-20MP camera depending on the vendor's preferences.

The AI-AR Question

Artificial intelligence is a major media topic at the moment, even though finish-user benefits are far from proven. Branding efforts accept sought to bandage near anything every bit AI, from a simple algorithm to predict what sorts of products yous might similar on an east-commerce site to scientific research into artificial consciousness. Similarly, augmented reality (AR) had a huge breakout success with games like Pokemon Get, but it's not exactly taking over anybody's life — at least, not yet.

The Snapdragon 845 appears to be taking a heart road on these issues. Information technology incorporates a more than powerful DSP and improved overall performance, but information technology as well includes practical benefits, including HDR back up, a better paradigm processor, and a faster CPU and GPU. Hardware always has to lead software; you tin't write lawmaking to have advantage of a new adequacy in a system if that capability doesn't exist notwithstanding. Merely it'll be interesting to see if the push by many companies to include AI processing or sophisticated augmented reality technology pays off in the real globe.