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Qualcomm unveils new Snapdragon G processors for dedicated gaming devices

The new Snapdragon G series platforms by Qualcomm consist of three different tiers, made for different levels of affordability and gaming needs.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has officially revealed its new Snapdragon G series, a portfolio of new processors and chipsets built for dedicated gaming devices today (23 August 2023).

Qualcomm identified several key gaming community trends: personal streaming (where gamers stream their content to friends or viewers), a penchant for cross-platform compatibility, and cloud streaming of big game titles.

To address the growing mobile gaming market, Snapdragon G will have three lineups, each prioritising a different aspect affecting video gaming experiences. Below are the summaries of what each chipset lineup offers (the handheld gaming devices are a conceptual representation of these processors' use cases).

Snapdragon G1 series

Qualcomm Snapdragon G1 Gen 1.

The Snapdragon G1 series chipsets are made for fanless handheld gaming devices that stream games from local storage or the cloud. It prioritises lag-free gaming and battery life, with access to cloud gaming capabilities across popular cloud gaming providers (Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus Premium, Steam Link, to name a few examples).

The Qualcomm Snapdragon G1 Gen 1 platform is the first of this series, which contains an 8-core Kyro CPU with Adreno A11 GPU.

Snapdragon G2 series

Qualcomm Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 platform.

Second, is the Snapdragon G2 series, which brings “full-featured mobile and cloud gaming”. This series not only brings a better Adreno A21 GPU on board. It also adds a Qualcomm FastConnect 6700 and a Snapdragon X62 5G Modem-RF System to enable both 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E connectivity for video gaming.

First to this series is the Qualcomm Snapdragon G2 Gen 1 platform, and it’s designed to be compatible with Android-based game apps from the Google Play Store, games from the Amazon Appstore and Netflix games, to name a few mobile gaming examples.

Snapdragon G3 series

Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 platform.

Lastly, the premium lineup is none other than the Snapdragon G3 series. This is the flagship-grade processor with Qualcomm throwing in the works to offer “enthusiast-class” gaming. Snapdragon G3 series was inspired and developed based on the feedback it received from its work on the Razer Edge 5G handheld gaming console.

The new platform heralding the G3 series is a second-generation flagship gaming processor, the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 (since the first-gen chip was on the Razer handheld). Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 offers over 30% faster CPU and 2x faster GPU performance when compared to its predecessor, packing a 8-core Kyro CPU and Adreno A32 GPU within.

Living up to its enthusiast-class naming is a host of high-end gaming features built into the chipset: hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, “game super resolution”, XR glass tethering, low-latency Blueooth audio with Snapdragon Sound, and compatibility with Wi-Fi 7 HBS on top of 5G network compatibility.

Qualcomm has reference designs available to game makers, app developers, and brand product manufacturers for the G3x Gen 2 platform.

The Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 reference designs are now available to interested manufacturers. “Customer-specific” product announcements (which we presume are brands that already use G3x Gen 2) will follow after, although Qualcomm did not specify a time.