By The folks at Qualcomm have come out of the gates swinging with a very exciting announcement this morning. The leading mobile chipset vendor has announced two new SoCs that should blow the pants off of everyone based on the numbers they have initially thrown at us.
The chips, dubbed the Snapdragon 600 and 800, are said to be extremely powerful, besting the Snapdragon S4 Pro series by a minimum of 40%. Specifically, the Snapdragon 600 is said to be 40% more powerful than the S4 Pro, and it’ll have a Krait-based quad-core CPU with up to 1.9GHz per core for clock speed. The chip will also house an Adreno 320 GPU and support LRDDR3 memory.
On the other hand, the Snapdragon 800 is said to be 75% better than the S4 Pro. This Krait-based chipset is really a doozie, though, as its four cores can each be clocked to speeds of up to 2.3GHz. It’ll have an Adreno 330 GPU, which is said to be two times better than the 320. Support for up to 2560×2048 display resolution and 1080p resolution via Miracast is miraculous, and the ability to record, playback and display 4K video — while not essential for the common consumer right now — is very nice.
Qualcomm faces stiff competition from NVIDIA who has also revealed its latest embedded wares earlier this week. Both companies are battling for position in the mobile realm as the top two chipset vendors as TI has all but ended its ambitious journey.
Samsung can still compare to anyone in the game, technologically speaking, but good luck finding an Exynos device outside of its own range. 2013 will be a very exciting year for mobile, it seems, so buckle in and brace yourself for what should be an onslaught of extremely powerful devices later this year. Read on for full press details.
Qualcomm Announces Next Generation Snapdragon Premium Mobile Processors
New Snapdragon 800 and 600 Processors Represent a Significant Performance Leap For High-End Mobile Computing Devices
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2013/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., is sampling the first products in its latest generation of processors. With the introduction of its newest Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800 and 600 processors, Qualcomm continues to lead the industry by once again raising the bar on performance per watt and delivering unparalleled user experiences.
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors target premium mobile and computing devices. They are designed to deliver outstanding overall user experience, expand the possibilities of seamless connected computing and enable brand new mobile experiences while maintaining industry-leading battery performance:
Visually stunning mobile experiences : Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors include the new quad core Krait 400 CPU, Adreno™ 330 GPU, Hexagon v5 DSP and our latest 4G LTE Cat 4 modem and deliver increased system performance and platform upgrades that further enhance user experience.
- The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors will deliver up to 75 percent better performance than the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and the move to 28nm High Performance for mobile (HPm) technology node ensures exceptionally low power
- New Krait 400 CPU in quad configuration, with speeds of up to 2.3 GHz per core offers best-in-class performance per watt, so processor performance can hold up to the more demanding processing and communication requirements of premium mobile devices
- Additionally, asynchronous SMP architecture provides dynamic power sensing and control for peak performance per core, while extending battery life without the use of specialized cores
- New Adreno 330 GPU delivers more than 2x performance for compute applications over the current Adreno 320 GPU
- 2x32bit LP-DDR3 at 800MHz with industry-leading memory bandwidth of 12.8GBps
- New Hexagon DSP V5 delivers floating point support, dynamic multithreading and expanded multimedia instructions for enhanced low power performance
- New IZat ™ location technology combines multiple tracking systems into a single high performance, highly accurate navigation platform for auto and pedestrian applications
Seamless communications anytime, anywhere : Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors offer fully integrated connectivity and a wide variety of communication options.
- Third generation 4G LTE modem with data rates up to 150 Mbps (Category 4), fully integrated in the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors
- 4G LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation feature to maximize radio frequency bandwidth
- World multimode and multi-band support using wafer level package (WTR1605)
- Integrated newest generation mobile Wi-Fi connectivity, 802.11ac
- Broad connectivity support with integrated USB 3.0, Bluetooth and FM
Breakthrough multimedia experiences : The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors also introduce the very latest mobile experiences.
- Capture, playback and display in UltraHD video (with four times 1080p pixel density)
- Dual Image Signal Processors (ISP) for Qualcomm Snapdragon Camera with support for computational camera
- HD multichannel audio with DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus for enhanced audio
- Higher display resolutions (up to 2560×2048) and Miracast 1080p HD support
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors are currently sampling and expected to be available in commercial devices by mid-year 2013.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor targets high-end mobile devices. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor is designed to deliver great performance, rich graphics and enhanced user experience and will deliver up to 40 percent better performance than the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor at lower power. The new processor offers system-wide architectural improvements, key component upgrades and expanded connectivity options. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor features a new Krait 300 quad-core CPU with speeds up to 1.9GHz, a new speed enhanced Adreno 320 GPU and support for LPDDR3 memory. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor is sampling now and is expected to be available in commercial devices by second quarter 2013.
“With the overwhelming success of our previous Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms, our mobile processors have emerged as the platform of choice for high-end mobile devices,” said Steve Mollenkopf, president and chief operating officer of Qualcomm. “With more than 50 design wins already secured with the first products of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors, we are advancing our vision and setting the standard for excellence in mobile computing.”
For more information and to see a demonstration of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors, as well as the newest devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, please visit Qualcomm during CES 2013 (South Hall 3, Upper Level, Booth #30313), Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas or visit www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon .
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website , OnQ blog , Twitter and Facebook pages.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the Company’s ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 and Snapdragon 800 processors on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which the Snapdragon platform is adopted, change in economic conditions of the various markets the Company serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2012, and most recent Form 10-Q.
Qualcomm, Adreno and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. All Qualcomm Incorporated trademarks are used with permission. Other products or brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Aaannnd my phone is now outdated… lol
So is my OG GS3
Snapdragon S2 HTC Desire HD here! : D
hey apple… screw you and your benchmark numbers. I want to see this beast in action.
Don’t forget about the Tegra 4!
I’m actually wanting to see more smartphone announcements from this event. i guess Sammy and others are taking a cue from Apple now by releasing phones on their own schedule at advertised press releases. makes sense. For everything else there is CES.
Lol i think the reason is that all those big company’s show off the prototypes at CES than apple steals the idea and gets it to the market earlier. Notice how in 2012 being the first year Samsung din’t show off any premium gadgets and that same year Apples event was pretty much a dud, nothing new cept for panorama, in 2011 When they showed off the galaxy s2 at CES with a higher mp camera a better screen, voice actions, cloud and all of that good stuff, Apple was able to get its device out with nearly the same stuff earlier in the U.S than Samsung did.
Idk… R&D for these devices is a long ass time. In tech time.
Mobile CPUs are really catching up to desktop performance. Already my Nexus 4 is fast. Now all we need is better batteries to handle all that power.
ARM CPUs are very fast but still no where near X86 desktop CPU performance…
A few more years and we will get there….
Krait S4 chips are as fast as a Intel Core 2 or AMD Phenom II processors clock for clock so they’re not that far off.
I will be dreaming of a Snapdragon 800 tonight…
I don’t see it being released any time soon, at least 2nd half of 2013, s600 probably 2nd quarter, prediction from last years s4 and s4 pro release dates.
They already stated Q2
i didn’t update to the N4 last year so hopefully the N5 will either carry the S800 or the Nvidia4 this year, major upgrade from the GNex
The problem I have with getting excited about new chip releases, is that our phone are never capable of doing anything the chip is advertised capable of. Really? 4K recording and playback? All that translates to is better angry birds performance. By the time mobile devices are actually able to take this chip up on its offers, new chips will be out claiming even more outrageous capabilities. I want to see battery manufacturers have some major releases as often as thiese chip manufacturers.
New from Rovio! Angry Birds HF! From the the guys that brought you the original Angry Birds comes the all new Angry Birds HF! Forget about HD!, HF is the new thing! Utilizing the new snapdragon 800’s HF technology now means you can enjoy Angry Birds at a stunning 2000 frames per second. With HF technology now you can truly see how Angry These Birds are!
the way i see it, a couple years back our phones were too slow, with chips like these it wont be a problem, if these chips can run that great playing 4k videos, just think what they could do with only 1k, the same thing could be said about laptops/desktops but we still want a faster device to make everything just work flawlessly and to bring up content the second we want it.
Not to defeat your logic, but your statement interested me. Load up any laptop/desktop with the greatest AMD/Intel or Nvidia have to offer and play a game of minesweeper. Is the performance any better? I say that to say this, greater support of new tech doesn’t mean greater support of legacy tech. You can increase processing speed and efficiency without supporting things our battery/screen/os/ram can’t keep up with. Just make my battery last more than twelve hours of sporadic use please.
Isn’t 4K a higher resolution than 2560×2048?
Yes. it is double the pixels per side of full hd 1080.
Thought so. So the 4K support is pure marketing then.
Well, yeah, as of now. If I remember correctly, though, The Amazing Spiderman was shot in full 4k resolution. Hopefully, things will start moving the way of 4K in the next couple years. Of course, people will be pissed because those Blu-Ray players people are still buying will be out of date…
Already is but at stupid prices. $25,000 is the last price I have heard.
Its not marketing they are showing off the power of the chips, the chips we have now can barely run 1080p these can easily run 4 times that
Except it can’t display it at native resolution, in fact not much over half it’s native resolution so that to me is marketing. Not different really to 720p TVs that can take 1080p input.
The term 4K refers to the horizontal resolution which is around 4,000 pixels
Gee thanks a lot for posting this. Now I have to go buy a new freaking keyboard because this one is flooded with drool! Jerk.
Mine is flooded with something else,… Jk I’m on my phone, now I have to get a new phone jerk ^o^
FAPPING
I used to want a white phone but this is just fugly, good grip though ^o^
IF phones come out with either of these chips this year, it has pretty much already made the Xperia Z/ZL obsolete. :-
yea that’s the problem with releasing phones at CES, during the same time the chip makers release better hardware, like Motorola taking to long to release a phone with the s4 then a week later devices with the S4 pro started rolling out
Dang Samsung is going to have to top that…. 4K is the futureeeeeeeeeee
we already know they have a quad core A15 and they always deliver on the graphics.
omg O.O so when do we expect these chips to make it into phones ?
Q2