Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs 888: What’s the Difference?

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit occurred from November 30th to December 2nd, 2021. In the following event, the chipset manufacturer unveiled its next generation of flagship chipsets. The chipset is called Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (Earlier, it was expected something else: Snapdragon 898). However, it succeeds the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 was indeed a powerful chipset, but it had its flaws, such as heating due to its large primary core. The next generation of flagship chipsets by Qualcomm has fixed the flaws while not compromising on performance. We have discussed comparing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Snapdragon 888

Power efficiency

Power efficiency was one of the major concerning things about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset. Even though it was built on a 5nm fabrication process, it had some noticeable heating issues while performing heavy tasks or playing games. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset was based on Samsung’s 5nm fabrication process, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is based on Samsung’s 4nm fabrication process. So, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will offer better power efficiency than the Snapdragon 888.

CPU

The Snapdragon 888 5G chipset has a Cortex X1 primary core clocked at 2.84GHz, three Cortex-A78 cores peak at 2.4GHz, and four Cortex-A55 low-power cores clocked at 1.8GHz. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset flaunts the Cortex X2 primary core running at 3.0GHz, three Cortex A710 cores at 2.5GHz, and the remaining four Cortex A510 CPUs at 1.8GHz for power efficiency. So the clock speed of these cores offers a significant upgrade on Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G compared with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 claims to have 20% faster CPU performance (or 30% faster CPU power efficiency) compared to the Snapdragon 888.

GPU

GPU carries all the gaming and graphics-related works in the chipset. Qualcomm Adreno 660 GPU powered the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. It was powerful enough to handle heavy games at max frame rates and graphics. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G is powered by the next-gen Adreno GPU (730?). Not to mention, this might be a massive jump in terms of GPU.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 claims to have 30% faster graphics (or 25% better GPU power efficiency) compared to the Snapdragon 888

Specifications Comparison Table

SoC	Snapdragon 8 Gen 1	Snapdragon 888
CPU	1x 3.0GHz (Cortex-X2) 3x 2.5GHz (Cortex-A710) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex-A510)	1x 2.84GHz (Cortex-X1) 3x 2.4GHz (Cortex-A78) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55
GPU	Next-gen Adreno GPU (730?)	Adreno 660
Process	4nm Samsung	Samsung 5nm (5LPE)
ISP	Triple 18-bit Spectra ISP	Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP
Camera Unit	Single 200MP or 108MP with ZSL OR 64MP+36MP with ZSL OR 3x 36MP with ZSL	Single 200MP or 84MP with ZSL OR 64MP+25MP with ZSL OR 3x 28MP with ZSL
RAM	LPDDR5 RAM @ 3,200MHz	LPDDR5 RAM @ 3,200MHz
Modem	X65 integrated modem(5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 10000 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps	X60 integrated modem(5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 7500 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps
Video capture	8K @ 30fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fp	8K @ 30fps 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fps

Conclusion

The next generation 8 Gen 1 chipset upgrades the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. On paper, Qualcomm has significantly upgraded the CPU, GPU, and overall efficiency of the chipset. But how will it be able to manage the heavy task? Will it be able to fix the flaws present in Qualcomm Snapdragon 888? We have no words on these yet. A proper long-term review can only confirm these, and we are preparing the report. Stay tuned.