In late 2018 Qualcomm unveiled its new processor Snapdragon 855,
a flagship mobile processor. Snapdragon 855 is specially built for 5G phones. Let’s check out more about Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 features.
Competition between mobile processor companies is increasing day by day. Recently, Apple released its iPhone XR and XS with Bionic A12 which reached the highest benchmark on Geek bench 4.
And Kirin 980 is another 7nm mobile AI chipset with a Cortex-A76 architecture chipset, dual NPU design, and the first chipset to support LTE Cat 21. Kirin 980 is a close competitor of the Snapdragon 855.
To answer this, Qualcomm the king of Mobile processors released its 800 series next powerful processor Snapdragon 855 to compete with these new processors.
And Qualcomm claims better App launch time than Kirin 980 and Apple A12.
There were a lot of rumours in the past and now we have more information about SD 855.
There were rumors that the chip name will be changed from 855 to 8150 but Qualcomm keep its name to SD 855.
Snapdragon 845 vs Snapdragon 855 Features
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According to Qualcomm
Snapdragon 855 with Cortex A76-based cores and more power efficient 7 nm process technology gains a performance boost over 845.
Snapdragon 855’s new Adreno 640 GPU is 20% faster than the Snapdragon 845’s
Adreno 630. Adreno 640 graphics support Physically Based Rendering (PBR) and true HDR gaming.
It supports 5G connectivity with an external Snapdragon X50 modem. SD 855 provides major improvements over SD 845 in terms of the use of Cortex A76 cores and the use of a 7nm process.
Snapdragon 845 is an Octa-core processor in which there are 4 power cores and 4 efficient cores. It has a clock speed of up to 2.8 GHz, using 10 nm technology with 64-bit architecture.
You may also like: Snapdragon 855 vs A12 Bionic: A Comparison
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Features
Based on Information from Winfuture.mobi news, the 8 cores in the Snapdragon 855/8150 will be classified in Gold and Silver.
Gold will be referred to as 4 high-end cores and silver as 4 low-end cores. Silver cores will clock up to 1.7 GHz and gold cores will go up to 2.6 GHz.
All this information is collected from the CPU import database. Another information state that the upcoming SD855/8150 will rely on an adapted design and will not be using ARM Cortex-A55 and ARM Cortex-A76 architecture which is given by the AMR chipmaker.
This Upcoming processor will be seen in upcoming premium quality smartphones in 2019 with a better-binned chip.
No doubt that SD 855/8150 will be packed with the extra performance but again, the processor chip must hit the complete balance in power consumption, thermals, and performance to gain a significant amount of extra performance compared to SD845.
Snapdragon 855/8150 New technology for Machine Learning
Another special thing about this upcoming Qualcomm processor is that it will have a first-ever separate neural chip.
These separate neural chips will increase the AI performance and number of tasks that will be used for the machine learning neural code.
Cameras will be improved with the use of machine learning as the separate neural chip can largely attribute to only AI software which will help improve camera performance significantly.
A better AI-based camera in a smartphone can change the market game and it can stand up with iPhone XS camera quality.
A Chip with 7nm Node
One of the biggest changes that the upcoming SD855 will have is improved lithograph technology. Every year the size of the nanometer is kept decreasing and now its reached 7nm.
For now, a 7nm chip is used in iPhone XR and XS and Kirin 980 is coming with a 7nm chip on October 16, 2018. Based on the report, Snapdragon 855/8150 will also have a 7nm chip from Qualcomm.
WinFuture reported a measurement of chip size is 12.4 x12.4 mm outer dimensions which are the same as the previous Snapdragon 845.
Expected Price of Upcoming Snapdragon 855
Winfuture also reviled the new Snapdragon 855/8150 cost. It will cost $53 per chip for the phone manufacturers. If comparing the cost with the previous chip SD 845, QUALCOMM has slightly increased its chip price.
The current Snapdragon 845 price is $45 per chip but based on rumour phone manufacturers have to pay $65 per chip and the reasons behind this can be an additional cost for licenses. So, it is expected that SD 855 will cost more than $53.
5G Connectivity
Another interesting thing about the next generation Snapdragon 855/8150 is that it will support 5G capable of X50 modem.