Smartphones with Snapdragon 888 plus will be available in Q3 2021. Snapdragon 888 Plus will be available in commercial smartphones shipped by Asus, Honor, Motorola, Vivo, and Xiaomi as per Qualcomm president and CEO-elect Cristiano Amon. He was speaking at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona Spain. A 5G mobile platform for Android phones, an accelerator card for open RAN deployments, and a 5G small cell chipset interoperable with all commercial worldwide mmWave and sub-6GHz bands are among the new offerings from Qualcomm. Qualcomm claimed during a press presentation that its new Snapdragon 888 Plus mobile platform improves the speed of its AI engine by more than 20%, which is vital for gaming and other media experiences.
Snapdragon 888 Plus powers flagship experiences with intelligent entertainment, such as AI-assisted gaming, streaming, photography, and more – all while delivering increased performance, unsurpassed speed, and premium connectivity. To harness the potential of ultra-smooth responsiveness, color-rich HDR graphics, and mobile-first desktop-level performance, the platform is equipped with the entire arsenal of Snapdragon Elite GamingTM features. Snapdragon 888 Plus has a faster Qualcomm® KryoTM 680 CPU Prime core clock speed of up to 3.0 GHz* and a 6th generation Qualcomm® AI Engine with up to 32 TOPS AI performance, which is a 20 percent boost over its predecessor.
Fang Fei, president of the product line at Honor noted the bump in AI performance provides “the flexibility to create a mobile experience that will fulfill the needs of even the most demanding users”. AI will support the real-time translation of in-game chat to enable seamless collaboration for cutting-edge global competition. Video upscaling will boost video resolution without increasing data consumption. Plus, AI can auto-enhance photography, including semantic segmentation in video capture—able to recognize, isolate, and optimize individual aspects of footage, such as subjects and backgrounds.
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Qualcomm demonstrated how its 5G DU X100 Accelerator Card may make open RAN fronthaul deployments easier at its event. It supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave basebands at the same time. Qualcomm indicated that it will assist virtualized RAN deployments by offloading functions such as demodulation, beamforming, channel coding, and Massive MIMO from central processing units in off-the-shelf servers. The FSM200xx 5G small cell chipset from the vendor supports data rates of up to 8Gb/s and is interoperable with all commercial worldwide mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. The chipset is the first Release-16 open RAN platform, according to Qualcomm.
“Snapdragon is synonymous with premium Android experiences. Our latest flagship Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform will help deliver the premium entertainment, connectivity, and gaming experiences users deserve,” said Christopher Patrick, senior vice president and general manager, mobile handset business, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We’re excited to see OEMs launch with products based on our highest performing platform.”
Below are some of the features that Smartphones with Snapdragon 888 plus can utilize:
- Games and entertainment: newly upgraded Qualcomm® Kryo™ 680 CPU revs up your elite entertainment experiences. Open social feeds, load games, or access your favorite content in a flash with an industry-leading processor designed to meet high-end demands head-on. Plus, stay immersed for hours without stopping to recharge thanks to a hyper-efficient 5 nm process. The Qualcomm® Adreno™ 660 GPU renders detailed graphics in a flash. Kryo 685 CPU with speeds up to 3.0 GHz* and Arm Cortex-X1-based architecture for increased efficiency.
- Games and entertainment: newly upgraded Qualcomm® Kryo™ 680 CPU revs up your elite entertainment experiences. Open social feeds, load games, or access your favorite content in a flash with an industry-leading processor designed to meet high-end demands head-on. Plus, stay immersed for hours without stopping to recharge thanks to a hyper-efficient 5 nm process. The Qualcomm® Adreno™ 660 GPU renders detailed graphics in a flash. Kryo 685 CPU with speeds up to 3.0 GHz* and Arm Cortex-X1-based architecture for increased efficiency.
- Artificial Intelligence: With more than 20% AI performance upgrade, the 32 TOPS enables the Snapdragon 888+ to run multiple neural networks simultaneously that work specifically to make your video calls and entertainment experiences more immersive. From AI super-resolution and AI-based noise cancellation that suppresses unwanted sounds, to camera enhancement, features such as single-camera bokeh effects—all help you stay truly connected with the ones that matter. 6th gen Qualcomm® Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine for unbeatable flagship AI experiences Qualcomm® Hexagon™ 780 Processor packs a fused architecture for high performance and efficiency 2nd Gen Qualcomm® Sensing Hub with a dedicated lower-power always-on AI processor for intelligent assistance and contextual awareness.
- Speed and Connectivity: With global 5G with peak, download speeds up to 7.5 Gbps game, stream, and share in real-time, at best-in-class quality. Plus, our Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 6900 Mobile Connectivity System provides blazing Wi-Fi 6 & 6E and rich Bluetooth audio. 3rd gen Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System with mmWave plus 5G carrier aggregation across TDD-FDD bands. Industry’s fastest available mobile Wi-Fi with multi-gig speeds up to 3.6 Gbps and increased capacity by harnessing the new 6 GHz spectrum. Premium audio experiences with dual Bluetooth antennas and Snapdragon Sound™ Technology
- 8K Video Capture: With 8K encoding and decoding, you can capture ultra-detailed, true-to-life footage. Even more, AI increases quality by allowing you to see clearly in low-light circumstances and with reduced noise. Furthermore, smart semantic segmentation recognizes and enhances specific aspects of your footage, resulting in point-and-shoot perfection.
- Gaming: Snapdragon Elite GamingTM features increase responsiveness and performance while also incorporating powerful AI, putting you in the driver’s seat. Collaborate on a global scale as language boundaries are broken down via real-time translation, or make split-second decisions with responsive voice commands. a) Qualcomm® Game Quick Touch reduces touch latency by up to 20%, while Variable Rate Shading (VRS) allows games to run better without draining power b) Updatable drivers offer real-time game updates, no OS update required c) Up to 144 Hz QHD display support for smooth, vivid gameplay
Quotes from mobile manufacturers:
“Bringing the best gaming experience to users is always the core mission of ROG. By utilizing the latest Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform in the ROG Phone, we ensure its overall performance is taken to the next level,” said Bryan Chang, general manager of smartphone business unit, ASUS.
“We’re delighted to see the collaboration between HONOR and Qualcomm Technologies take another step forward. The game-changing advancements we see in the new Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform make it a perfect fit for HONOR’s upcoming Magic3 series flagship,” said Fang Fei, president of product line, HONOR Device Co., Ltd. “The platform’s industry-leading performance and gains in AI give us the flexibility to create a mobile experience that will fulfill the needs of even the most demanding users. Our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies will allow us to deliver best-in-class experiences in the Magic series, which set new industry standards for flagship innovation, and we can’t wait for everyone to try it out in person.”
“As part of our portfolio, the Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform will support us on our mission to continue delivering smarter technology for all,” said Sergio Buniac, president, Motorola Mobility. “The Snapdragon 888 Plus will help us bring the most significant performance and 5G speeds to our consumers.”
“vivo and Qualcomm Technologies have been collaborating for a long time to create many widely-adopted flagship smartphones,” said Xinlin Luan, general manager of product, vivo. “We believe that our new flagship device will take full advantage of the strong performance of Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform and allow more consumers to experience the joy of life empowered by mobile technologies by ‘Creating Together’.”
“Xiaomi and Qualcomm Technologies have been working together to bring the most advanced mobile experience to global users through our long-term collaboration,” said Lei Zhang, vice president of Mi Smartphone and general manager of hardware engineering, Xiaomi. “As Xiaomi ushered into a new decade, Qualcomm Technologies has maintained its strong support on our journey ahead to the high-end segment. We are looking forward to further strengthening Xiaomi’s position in the high-end segment by leveraging the strong 5G, AI, gaming, and camera features of Snapdragon 888 Plus to meet the expectations of Mi Fans across the world.”