Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 Finally Brings 8Kp60 Video to Smartphones
Today at its annual Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm unveiled two new flagship mobile SoCs, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. They both promise to supercharge the age of agentic AI, although there are some very interesting new features for imaging as well.
DisclosureQualcomm paid for travel and accommodations for PetaPixel to attend this year’s Snapdragon Summit. Qualcomm has zero editorial input over any of PetaPixel’s related coverage this week, including this news story.
“Today marks a milestone as we introduce not one, but two new flagship mobile platforms, delivering agentic AI experiences that are immediate, personal, and adaptive,” says Chris Patrick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Handsets at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“As the agentic AI age evolves, our multi-flagship strategy allows us to push the boundaries of what’s possible for mobile while bringing our latest AI innovations to a broader range of premium devices. By designing two innovative platforms, we’re giving OEMs greater choice as we collectively shape the capabilities of the next generation of intelligent, personalized, mobile experiences,” Patrick concludes.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile chip ever for creation, AI, and gaming experiences, featuring more memory, more speed, and more performance across its CPU, GPU, and NPU. Specifically, CPU performance is up 13% compared to the last generation, GPU performance is 44% better, and the NPU is 35% more powerful. The new platform is also 30 to 40% more efficient across the board, which means better battery life, all else equal.
While these performance gains impact all aspects of a smartphone’s performance, including its general usability, productivity, and user experience, the chip also matters a lot to a phone’s camera system.
With Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, smartphone makers will finally be able to support 8Kp60 video capture, a first for smartphones. The Qualcomm Spectra ISP has four times the video throughput compared to the prior generation. Further, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 delivers 256 times more AI data per pixel than before, which can be leveraged for a wide array of computational photo and video tasks. It also supports 4Kp240 recording.
With smartphone camera systems in particular, image processing is especially important. To overcome the physical limitations of relatively small image sensors and optical designs, smartphone makers must leverage software. The more powerful a phone’s chip, the more competent and effective this software can be.
Qualcomm says the advancements in AI will help smartphone makers deliver cinema-grade video experiences and more natural-looking photos with improved image quality. 4Kp60 video recording supports Bayer Noise Reduction and AI noise reduction at 4Kp30 with 16-bits of AI data per pixel. There’s also AI video segmentation processing and real-time AI skin and sky tone adjustments for 4Kp60 video.
The upgraded Spectra Image Signal Processor also supports up to 64MP triple camera systems with zero shutter lag and up to a single 108MP camera with no shutter lag. Broadly, it supports 320-megapixel image capture.
Devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 will be available soon from leading OEMs and smartphone brands. Qualcomm specifically notes Honor, IQOO, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Redmi, RedMagic, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.
Image creditsQualcomm
