Qualcomm has unveiled its upgraded Snapdragon 888 chip—the Snapdragon 888+ 5G—at MWC 2021, and it looks set to set the mobile world alight with its advanced SOC.
Introducing the Snapdragon 888+ Chip
MWC 2021 is now underway and with it comes plenty of announcements for the mobile phone industry.
Taking stage at the annual mobile trade fair, Qualcomm has revealed its Snapdragon 888+ mobile processor, the successor to the already powerful Snapdragon 888.
The new chip looks set to take mobile processing to a whole new level, with advanced computational prowess very much the key selling point of Qualcomm's system on a chip.
What Can the Snapdragon 888+ Chip Do?
Well, the Snapdragon 888 looks set to become an even more powerful chip thanks to its Plus upgrade. But what will the new chip be capable of?
The chip is somewhat of a workhorse; here are the specs:
- Connectivity: 3rd Gen Snapdragon X60 Modem-RF System, 3rd Gen mmWave, 5G carrier aggregation, FastConnect 6900 6 GHz, 4K QAM.
- Performance: Kryo 680 capable of up to 3 GHz, Adreno 660 GPU, 5nm processing technology.
- Security: Hypervisor, CAI Compliant Camera.
- AI: 6th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine capable of up to 32 TOPS, Hexagon 780 AI acceleration.
- Gaming: 3rd Generation Snapdragon Elite Gaming, Qualcomm Game Quick Touch, Variable rate shading.
- Camera: 2.7 Gigapixels per second, Burst capture at 120 photos per second, 4K HDR video capture, low light video capture.
So, the Snapdragon 888+ looks like a pretty powerful beast on paper. Particularly compared to the standard Snapdragon 888.
How Does the Snapdragon 888+ Improve on the Standard 888?
Well, Snapdragon has definitely built the new chip for mobile gamers. Given that mobile gaming is such a massive industry, it makes sense that Snapdragon would want to service the needs of these consumers.
The standard 888 has a clock speed of 2.84 GHz, with the 888+ scoring a speed boost of up to 3.0 GHz courtesy of that Kryo 680.
While the Snapdragon 888 can run through 26 TOPS (trillion operations per second) the 888+ can blow through a blistering 32 trillion. This has massive implications for the AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities of the 888+ SOC (system on a chip).
Which Phone Brands Will Use the New Chip?
There has been a little non-committal chat from Motorola around using the Snapdragon 888+. However, the brand doesn't really produce top-spec phones, so why it would use a top-spec SOC is a mystery.
Aside from Motorola, Honor states it will use the new chip in its handsets, now it has divorced Huawei and set out on its own. This means it can release smartphones with Google's Android operating system and associated services.
Xiaomi will also use the chip in its forthcoming handsets, but we don't know which models will feature the 888+
The Future of Phones Looks Bright With Snapdragon
With Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon processor on the way, mobile gaming looks set to go through the stratosphere. Perhaps this will encourage more big names, like Sony, to step further into the mobile gaming realm.