Qualcomm unveils new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 mobile chipset

Qualcomm on Monday (March 18) unveiled the new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset for smartphones.

The new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is said to be on par with the original third-generation Snapdragon 8 (seen on the latest premium phones-- Xiaomi 14, iQOO 12 and OnePlus 12) in several aspects, such as running Artificial Intelligence-powered Large Language Models (LLMs), graphics-rich games, and photography capabilities.

It has the same Graphic Processor Unit (GPU) and 5G modem as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but the new Snapdragon processor has one less performance core. And, it can clock a peak CPU speed of 3.0Ghz against 3.5GHz on 8 Gen 3.

Qualcomm is placing the latest Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 between the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (for mid-range phones) and the 8 Gen 3 (for ultra flagship models).

Smartphones with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will be seen in new premium phones but with less expensive price tags, as compared to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (review) and OnePlus 12 series.

Key features of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3: Key aspects you should know about Qualcomm's latest silicon

1) Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 supports popular large language models (LLM)—Baichuan-7B, Llama 2 and Gemini Nano—with up to 10 billion parameters to perform generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) tasks such as live translation, real-time transcription of audio content on the device (without internet).

[Note: The number of parameters in a large language model usually dictates its size and complexity. The more the number of parameters, the faster an LLM is capable of understanding complex tasks and delivering them. For context, ChatGPT 4 supports 1.76 trillion parameters and devices need cloud server connectivity to perform complex tasks.]

2) Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 comes paired with an 18-bit Triple-Cognitive ISP (Image Signal Processor) to deliver clear and crisp photos even in challenging lighting conditions.

3) Devices with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 support hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It will enable the device to deliver a hyper-realistic mobile gaming experience with true-to-life scenes sporting more accurate shadows and reflections, allowing for deeply immersive content.

4) Besides 5G cellular connectivity, devices with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 support Wi-Fi 7, meaning the owners will be able to enjoy super fast download speeds up to 40Gbps.

5) Honor, iQOO, Realme, Xiaomi and its subsidiary Redmi are expected to unveil their new phones with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 starting this March.

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