Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 8s Gen 4: Enhanced Performance with 49% Boost, Retains 4nm Process and Kryo Cores

The recently announced Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is positioned below Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite but offers smartphone manufacturers and consumers a chance to harness premium performance and features without the associated high costs. Unlike its predecessor, this chip does not feature the in-house Oryon cores; instead, it utilizes the established Kryo CPU architecture. Nevertheless, Qualcomm claims a striking performance enhancement of up to 49 percent over the previous generation. Let’s explore what this new chipset brings to the table.

Key Features and Innovations of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 does not support mmWave 5G, which could be a drawback for some, but it compensates with advanced connectivity options such as Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and enhanced storage and memory support with UFS 4.0 and LPDDR5X. The manufacturing process, utilizing the older 4nm lithography—likely based on TSMC’s N4P node—indicates that it may not match the efficiency levels of the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Yet, it features a robust CPU cluster: a configuration of ‘1 + 3 + 2 + 2, ’ with the fastest core clocked at 3.20GHz and performance cores operating at 3.00GHz. While Qualcomm hasn’t disclosed the GPU specifics, user expectations for up to a 49 percent improvement in graphics performance over the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 remain enticing.

On the CPU front, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is engineered for enhanced performance, claiming a speed increase of up to 31 percent. Users can also benefit from improved power efficiency of around 39 percent. This system-on-chip (SoC) boasts a high-performing 5G modem, although it only supports sub-6GHz frequencies, achieving maximum downlink speeds of 4.2Gbps. Moreover, the introduction of Bluetooth 6.0 support, UFS 4.0 storage, and LPDDR5X RAM operating at 4, 800MHz ensures the device’s competitiveness in the premium smartphone market.

In addition to raw processing power, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 integrates on-device AI capabilities with a new neural processing unit (NPU), promising a performance boost of up to 44 percent. The image signal processor (ISP) is impressive too, capable of accommodating a single camera sensor of up to 320MP, along with the ability to handle 8K HDR video playback at 60FPS and capture 4K HDR video at the same frame rate. Anticipating the integration of this chipset into the high-end offerings from various Chinese manufacturers, the industry is eager to see how it performs against both current and previous generation solutions.

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