How Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is bringing generative AI to 2024's flagship Android phones

Note: This feature was first published on 25 October 2023.

Qualcomm today (25 October 2023) officially unveiled the chipset that will power our 2024 premium flagship Android smartphones: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform (SD8G3). 

According to Qualcomm, the 4nm-by-TSMC chipset is made such that generative artificial intelligence (AI) tasks and features are possible with 2024 premium flagship Android phones. Qualcomm is extremely confident about its new processor, touting it as “the titan of on-device intelligence”.

We attended the sponsored summit by Qualcomm at their request to bring you these updates that were shared during its launch keynote.

10 billion parameters, all on-device

To run AI efficiently, a chipset would need libraries of information it can tap into quickly.

Qualcomm said that its AI Engine now supports multi-modal generative AI models, which include popular large language models (LLMs), language vision models (LVM), and transformer network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR), totalling up to 10 billion parameters, all on-device. Of the various models, Qualcomm also has Meta’s Llama 2 LLM on board.

In English, that means Qualcomm squeezed multiple libraries of machine-learning information. The info covers decision-making, visuals, and speech recognition to make the processor able to give up to 10 billion “solutions” without needing to look beyond the chip (and that’s a gross understatement).

Besides having the volume, the brand also upped its AI speed and efficiency. Qualcomm’s SD8G3 neural processing unit (NPU), called Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, is now up to 98% faster than its predecessor, with 40% better performance per watt. 

Qualcomm claims up to 3.5x AI performance increase on the Qualcomm Sensing Hub (which identifies and processes streams of data), on top of a maximum of 20 tokens per second (which makes your AI voice assistant more personalised and faster than ever). The brand also claimed generative AI for images taking only 1 second to complete, versus the conventional 15-second processing time. 

For folks who work in AI, you’ll also be pleased to know that the chipset supports INT4 precision. Qualcomm AI Stack Models now come with 20 models at launch (all on HuggingFace).

Better, smarter photos and videos

No prizes for guessing correctly — yes, there’s AI working on Qualcomm’s imaging processing deck, called Spectra ISP, on the SD8G3 too.

The chipset supports up to three 18-bit Cognitive ISPs, has an engine for Visual Analytics 4.0, has hardware acceleration for iToF (indirect time-of-flight) depth sensors, and 12 layers of real-time semantic segmentation for photo and video processing.

This means that your SD8G3-powered phone can technically perform the following AI-powered features and tasks, if the phone manufacturer wishes so:

• Video Object Eraser (by Arcsoft), removing unwanted people from your videos
• Dual always-sensing cameras for front and back cameras (for QR code, face unlock etc.)
• Zoom Anyplace (if using Samsung’s 200MP image sensor optimised for Snapdragon), which lets you capture multiple videos, and do object tracking, in 2x or 4x zoom, all while recording in 4K resolution
• Vloggers View, which lets you livestream both selfie camera and rear camera video at the same time
• Photo Expansion, which extends photographs beyond what the image sensor captured using AI
• Truepic photo capture with C2PA standard, which proves the photos you took are real and not AI-made

All this is on top of old-but-still-awesome features, like triple HDR video capture, and support for many HDR image sensors (DCG, QDOL, Less Blanking, Multi-frame). 

CPU and GPU gains, for sure

Mobile gamers rejoice. A new CPU subsystem has been granted to the on-board Kyro CPU, now featuring five gold cores (one prime core at 3.3GHz, five performance cores at 3.2GHz, and two efficiency cores at 2.3GHz). This translates to 30% better performance and 20% better power efficiency for CPU tasks. 

The SD8G3 also has an upgraded Adreno GPU. Graphics see 25% better GPU performance, 25% better power efficiency, and 40% better ray-tracing capabilities. All these are comparative to its predecessor’s performance.

Together, the SD83’s task-and-graphics performance also offer up to 10% overall power savings.

To spice things up, the GPU is also capable of 1Hz variable refresh rate for low-power display modes, supports up to 240FPS gaming (for 240Hz displays), has an upgraded frame generation algorithm (Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0, which creates frames to make games feel even smoother), and supports Unreal Engine 5 – Lumen. That last add-on makes SD8G3 the first Snapdragon chipset to support real-time, hardware-accelerated ray tracing with global illumination and reflections in-game.

For RAM, SD8G3 can support up to LPDDR5x at 4,800MHz, to a maximum of 24GB.

Best-in-class connectivity

Qualcomm’s SD8G3 comes with the Snapdragon X75 Modem-RF System and FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System, two core networking components for all your connectivity needs. The modem is the world’s first 5G modem with a built-in AI tensor hardware accelerator (using AI to improve speed, coverage, stability, and accuracy), and its 2.5x more in AI processing power than its predecessor (which wasn’t built-in).

Together, they offer compatibility with Wi-Fi 7 using HBS Multi-Link with peak speeds of 5.8Gbps, support for up to Bluetooth 5.4 with dual Bluetooth antennas, and of course, 5G networks.

Extreme Audio, low latency, ultra-low power

Speaking of Bluetooth, the SD8G3 also has the full suite of Snapdragon Sound technologies. This comes along with all other Bluetooth features we’ve come to expect from the brand’s premium-tier chipset, such as aptX Voice, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, and LE Audio.

Using Bluetooth, the chipset offers up to 24-bit, 96kHz lossless music.

New to Snapdragon Sound is Qualcomm’s new Expanded Personal Area Network Technology (XPAN), which uses “micro Wi-Fi connectivity” to help extend audio range across a whole home, with support up to 192kHz lossless music quality that’s capable of auto-switching between devices.

OMG SD8G3 when?!

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform will arrive to third-party phone makers “in the coming weeks”. Brands include, but are not limited to ASUS, Honor, iQoo, Meizu, Nio, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Redmi, RedMagic, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.

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