Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 has launched, but it’s not really a successor to the Snapdragon 845, but more of a slight bump in specs. The only difference you will find is higher clock frequency which went up from 2.8GHz to up to 2.95GHz. But the real headline here is Qualcomm’s partnership with Microsoft to push mobile platform for Always-Connected Windows 10 devices.
Hopefully, we will start seeing more Windows 10 machines running on Snapdragon processors. We have seen a few Windows-on-ARM devices powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset, and the 850 is here to replace the same. Qualcomm basically expects more 2-in-1 devices to employ their SD850, you know, like Microsoft’s own surface books. You can check Qualcomm’s own reference design below.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 allows for sleeker, more portable laptops with fanless designs which can sustain a much higher clock speed for a lot longer. We cannot compare this to the 845, but we will with the SD835. It boasts 20% better battery life, around 30% performance improvements and 20% faster peak data transfers compared to the 835.
Technically the Snapdragon 850 is built on the same 10nm process and features the X20 modem from the 845. It is also meant to be the second generation processor for “Always Connected PC (ACPC)” platform. You will also find all the upgraded audio and video codec features that we saw on the SD845.
In Window’s April 2018 update, Microsoft will optimize its software to work well with Snapdragon processors. There are also a lot of hardware-based accelerations that will help achieve an even better user experience. The usual AI and machine learning capabilities also make an appearance.
Basically, Qualcomm with the help of Microsoft wants these traditional PC-based companies to shift to more mobile-focused companies. So, expect a lot of companies to come on board in the near future. Qualcomm is offering a lot more assistance to the OEMs to make better use of its (Qualcomm’s) components.
Here is a quote from Qualcomm’s own SD 850’s official website, “Users can count on the familiarity of the complete Windows 10 experience, maximizing productivity, entertainment and security. The Snapdragon 850 mobile computer platform supports Trustzone advanced hardware security and Hypervisor security, enhanced Cortana and other voice assistants, and OneDrive cloud storage.”
Read more: Computex 2018 Coverage
