Snapdragon 8 Gen 5: Eight custom cores remain with less clock speed and cache
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 gets a little brother. It still uses eight Oryon cores and is intended to be used in more affordable smartphones than the Elite.
(Image: heise medien)
Qualcomm is introducing a stripped-down version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 smartphone processor. The new variant is called Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (without Elite). It scales down the most important functional blocks in the form of the processor cores, graphics unit, and AI accelerator, but remains among the fastest smartphone processors.
Consequently, Qualcomm still sees the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 as intended for premium smartphones, but for more affordable models than before. Interest appears to be particularly high among Chinese manufacturers: OnePlus is said to be leading the way, and Qualcomm also names iQOO, Honor, Meizu, Motorola, and Vivo as the first customers. The first devices are expected to appear in the coming weeks.
(Image:Â Qualcomm)
Eight Oryon cores remain
The core component consists of eight processor cores, still with the proprietary Oryon architecture; the chip houses two so-called Prime cores and six performance cores. The former two reach clock frequencies of 3.8 GHz, almost 18 percent less than the Prime cores in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The performance cores reach 3.32 GHz, a decrease of almost nine percent. The total Level 2 cache for the CPU cores shrinks from 24 to 16 MByte.
Qualcomm compares the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (there was no Gen 4). As a stripped-down version of a top model, the newcomer rather replaces the earlier Snapdragon-8s series. The CPU of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is said to be 36 percent faster than that of the Gen 3.
The Adreno GPU is expected to achieve a moderate performance increase of 11 percent. The integrated AI unit is positioned between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Compared to the former, Qualcomm promises an improvement of 46 percent.
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5G mobile communications from the last generation
On the mobile communications side, Qualcomm integrates its 5G modem from last year, i.e., the Snapdragon X80 instead of the current X85. The maximum download transfer rate thus drops from 12 to still high 10 Gbit/s. Wi-Fi 7 technology is still integrated.
Qualcomm produces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, just like the Elite version, using 3-nanometer manufacturing technology. This makes the processor significantly more efficient than its predecessor with the N4P process, an improved 5nm variant of chip manufacturer TSMC. Compared to the Gen 3, Qualcomm promises a 42 percent more efficient CPU, a 28 percent more efficient GPU, and a 13 percent efficiency gain across the entire processor. Among other things, the integrated modem is likely to pull down the average, as analog technology benefits less from finer manufacturing technology.
As usual in the industry, Qualcomm remains silent on prices. The OnePlus 15 with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and 512 GByte of storage costs around 1000 euros (starting from 949 €). A variant with Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 should be positioned below that.
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