The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is here, what it promises, and more tech today
Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020.
1. Your Android flagship 2021 will have one of these …
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Qualcomm announced its next-generation flagship chipset, the new Snapdragon 888, which will power most of the good Android flagships in 2021 and will take on Apple’s A14 chipset. This time around, however, it’s made by Samsung rather than TSMC, and there are a number of details to dwell on.
What we know so far from the Day 1 keynote (YouTube) is looking good, and the Day 2 keynote unfolds as I write. Check out a just released deep dive here or check out a wonderful technical video by Gary Explains here below:
Technical specifications:
The big leap forward for the Snapdragon franchise could be here. It could well be a monster chip for 2021 flagships:
- The 888 is based on the 5 nm node manufactured by Samsung.
- The CPU configuration is: 1x 2.84 GHz (Cortex-X1), 3x 2.4 GHz (Cortex-A78) and 4x 1.8 GHz (Cortex-A55) for a 25% better CPU performance.
- In contrast to the 865, the modem is now fully integrated. It is the latest X60 5G modem that supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G, offers multi-SIM support, improved carrier aggregation for fast data speeds and dynamic spectrum sharing. Improvement of support with existing 4G networks. In short, you can expect to see those 5G peak speeds more consistently than the last generation. Plus, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, Dual Radio Bluetooth 5.2 functionality and support for the latest Bluetooth LE audio standard.
- On the GPU side, Qualcomm also claims a 35% faster GPU with new Snapdragon Elite gaming features and faster graphics performance. This extends existing upgradeable GPU drivers, frame rates of 144 fps, and desktop forward rendering.
- It has the new sixth generation AI engine. It has 26 machine learning operations per second.
- Another headline: A new Spectra image processor offers a throughput of 2.7 gigapixels per second. enough to handle 120 12MP frames per second.
Brands on board:
- As a point in the presentation we saw a list of “respected partners” who will bring a premium smartphone based on the Snapdragon 888 onto the market “next year”.
- These included Xiaomi, LG, OnePlus, Oppo, Motorola, Asus, ZTE and the usual brands.
- In fact, the missing brands are at least partially interesting: the logos of Google, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung were missing.
- Hm! I’ve seen this part of the presentation a few times. Does that mean there won’t be a Samsung or Google smartphone with a Snapdragon 888 in 2021?
- Eh, I wouldn’t be sure of that.
- For example, the 2019 edition of this graphic did not list Google, Realme or Sony, only Google withheld from shipping a Snapdragon 865 series phone in 2020.
- The brands listed may have just agreed to be listed and partake in Summit Day. The missing brands are all heavyweights, and if their brands are mapped that way, this may not be what these companies want to do. Sony, for example, is very careful with branding.
- Samsung was there in 2019, but not in 2020 …
- I checked in with our very own Hadlee Simons who has attended Qualcomm Summits in the past and is closely following the game. He told me: “Rumors from earlier this year said that the Galaxy S21 series would come with the (new) Exynos 2100 or Snapdragon 888. It’s also worth noting that Samsung’s own foundry is almost confirmed to make the Snapdragon 888. These are different companies under the Samsung conglomerate, but it’s noteworthy.
- “The Exynos 2100 is likely the first flagship Exynos processor without Samsung’s custom CPU technology since the Galaxy S6’s Exynos 7420 chipset.”
Designation:
- We assumed that the next Snapdragon chipset would be the Snapdragon 875, following the naming convention of the Snapdragon 835, 845, 855 and the newer 865 for the past four years.
- But Qualcomm also had some strange numbers back then: the 800, 801 and 805 between 2013-14 and 808 and 810, 820 and 821 in 2016.
- So this run of consistency seemed a little too conventional. If you skip to 888 it may be marked as important by Qualcomm.
Also: Not a word on a new desktop chip yet.
2nd report: Xiaomi has incredibly high shipping destinations for smartphones for 2021 (Android Authority).
3. Google Pixel 5 may soon have a smart automatic equalizer feature: Adaptive Sound (Android Authority).
4. Desktop mode pioneer Motorola is finally bringing the computer-like experience to modern phones – like Dex, but Moto (Android Authority).
5. Holy Moly: The Zero-Click Wi-Fi Exploit for iPhone is one of the most breathtaking hacks of all time. Really! It’s crazy to read, “Wi-Fi packages could steal photos. No interaction required. Above the air. “(Also breathtaking: a 30,000 word post in which a Google researcher described everything in detail) (Ars Technica).
6. Now Google Maps has its own news feed called “Community Feed” for local areas, which is currently being rolled out worldwide (blog.google).
7. Puerto Rico’s legendary Arecibo Observatory radio telescope suffered a catastrophic collapse yesterday, sending the 900-ton antenna into the dish. This is what it looks like from a drone POV (Youtube).
8. 8. Hyundai unveils EV platform for its 23 upcoming vehicles (Engadget).
9. Salesforce Announces It Will Buy $ 27.7 Billion Of Slack (TechCrunch).
10. 600 “young entrepreneurs, activists, scientists and entertainers” were presented in the 10th yearbook Forbes 30 under 30, congratulations to her. YouTubers like MKBHD and MrBeast have been listed, and the list is pretty impressive in so many facets of life. (How are they all so young!)
11. The annual Spotify Wrapped is out. My top artist: Tame Impala. Plus, more than 7,000 minutes of podcasts and I didn’t switch to Spotify until the middle of the year. Hmm ((Spotify).
12. Microsoft sells an ugly MS Paint sweater and a portion of the proceeds will go to Girls Who Code (The edge).
13. Six Word Sci-Fi Stories: “Have fun,” it was said and ate Mars “(Wired).
14. ELI5: “Why do joints make a” cracking noise “during certain activities such as climbing stairs, but have no actual pain?” (R / EXPLAINLEIMFIVE)
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