With its current flagship mobile chip—the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2—Qualcomm switched from its long-running “1+3+4” CPU layout to one large, four medium cores, and three small cores (1+4+3). And according to leaks, Qualcomm will use a different CPU cluster on the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Let’s learn more about the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor along with its rumors and expected launch date.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Rumors:
New CPU layout
According to Kuba Wojciechowski, the 8 Gen 3 is codenamed “Lanai” and has the model number “SM8650”. And it will have a “1+3+2+2” CPU configuration. Some leaks suggest that this chip will have a maximum clock speed of 3.72 GHz as well.
According to my sources, the SoC will have the following CPU config:
2x Arm codename Hayes (A5xx) "silver" cores
3x Arm codename Hunter (A7xx) "gold" cores
2x Arm codename Hunter (A7xx) "titanium" cores
1x Arm codename Hunter ELP (Xn) "gold+" core— Kuba Wojciechowski :3 (@Za_Raczke) March 23, 2023
Anyway, Qualcomm is set to use three entirely new Arm CPU cores for the 8 Gen 3: one large Cortex-X core, codenamed “Hunter ELP” (dubbed “Gold Plus” core by Qualcomm), five medium Cortex-A7xx cores, and two small Cortex-A5xx series cores codenamed “Hayes” (aka “Silver” cores). The new Cortex-A7xx series is further divided into two “Titanium” cores and three “Gold” CPU cores.
As the name suggests, the “Titanium” cores could have faster clock speeds or more cache versus their “Gold” counterpart. And the two small Cortex-A5xx series CPUs could be the successor to the current second-gen Cortex-A510 cores.
- Also read:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 is here with a massive performance boost
- MediaTek Dimensity 7200 announced with TSMC’s second-gen 4nm process
- Samsung silently announces Galaxy M54 with Exynos 1380, 6000mAh battery
3nm fabrication and 64-bit app support
Furthermore, 8 Gen 3 is said to be built on a 3nm fabrication process, which is rumored to improve energy efficiency by an incredible 35%.
For graphics, there will be an integrated Adreno 750 GPU. Other than this, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is expected to go all-in on 64-bit architecture. If true, it will be the first mobile chipset to drop 32-bit support altogether.
Snapdragon X75 5G modem and Satellite Connectivity
Moving on, Qualcomm will be using its new “Snapdragon X75 5G” modem for this chip. Launched in February earlier this year, it is the world’s first 5G Advanced-ready modem-RF system, which basically means its transceiver can handle both mmWave and sub-6 GHz bands on its own. And it enables better network coverage, reduced latency, and better power efficiency too.
Compared to the Snapdragon X70 5G on 8 Gen 2, it has 2.5x faster AI processing. It also brings Qualcomm’s second-gen dual SIM dual active (DSDA) tech, letting you connect to two 5G data connections simultaneously.
The chip will most likely include support for Qualcomm’s new “Snapdragon Satellite” technology too, which is something already available on the 8 Gen 2, by the way. And in case you didn’t know, this feature enables two-way messaging via satellite in absence of regular cell signals.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Availability
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, the 8 Gen 3 will launch a bit earlier than its predecessor. So Qualcomm could unveil it before November this year.
- Meanwhile, check our comparison between Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, A16 Bionic, and Dimensity 9200.
