Qualcomm took over the Microsoft pre-CES keynote slot, and they decided to reveal their new processors – the Snapdragon 800 series and the 600 processors. The 600 aims to follow on from the S4 Pro (currently used on phones like the Nexus 4); while the 800 packs a punch in terms of performance.
Spec-wise, the Snapdragon 600 features a quad-core CPU running up to 1.9GHz, an Adreno 320 GPU, and LPDDR3 RAM (increasing the speed of RAM so performance is boosted). According to Qualcomm, they say that the 600 will be 40% better in performance compared to the S4 Pro. Of course, it will also manage to maintain good battery life, and should be in commercial devices by the second quarter of this year.
The Snapdragon 800 is essentially a beast compared to other mobile processors. It features a quad-core CPU with speeds up to 2.3GHz per core, a new Adreno 330 GPU that is twice the performance of the current Adreno 320, and two 32-bit LPDDR3 at 800MHz. There is also support for multithreading; integrated location tracking technology; integrated connectivity with wireless networks such as 4G LTE and Wi-Fi 802.11ac; and, broad connectivity with USB 3.0, Bluetooth and FM.
Apart from the technical details, the Snapdragon 800 supports not only HD, but Ultra HD (or 4K). You can capture, playback and display Ultra HD video from a phone running this processor. In addition, it supports higher display resolutions, able to support DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus for better audio, and an image processor that supports up to four cameras and allows 3D photos to be captured. The image processor also has separate autofocus and can capture 1080p video in 30 frames per second.
So how fast is it? The Snapdragon 800 is 75% faster than the current S4, according to Qualcomm.
The Snapdragon 800, however, is not only catering for phones. The processor is to be used on tablets, laptops and consumer electronic devices, like smart TVs. Commercial devices are set to come into market by the middle of the year.