Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 is faster and more energy efficient

Intended to replace the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, the Snapdragon 845 comes with an integrated Qualcomm Spectra 280 image signal processor (ISP) and Qualcomm Adreno 630 graphics. The chip is aimed at flagship devices incoming next year, boasting a speed increase of up to 25 percent and faster graphics.

The Snapdragon 845 will be able to capture 64x more high-dynamic range colour information for video capture and playback on Ultra HD Premium displays compared to the previous generation. That’s a 10-bit colour depth for over one billion shades of colours for amazing 4K/Ultra HD video.

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Adreno 630 graphics architecture was developed for virtual, augmented and mixed reality. At the same time, it also introduces “Adreno foveation,” which reduces power consumption, improves visual quality and boosts XR application performance, as compared to the previous generation.

The chip is Qualcomm’s third-generation AI mobile platform, delivering 3x improvement in overall AI performance. It improves voice-driven smart assistants with improved always-on keyword detection and ultra-low-power voice processing (hopefully!).

In addition to the existing support for Google’s TensorFlow and Facebook’s Caffe/Caffe2 frameworks, the Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine (NPE) SDK now supports Tensorflow Lite and the new Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX), making it easy for developers to use their framework of choice, including Caffe2, CNTK and MxNet. Snapdragon 845 also supports Google’s Android NN API.

As payment companies seek more secure authentication mechanisms, the Snapdragon 845 introduces a secure processing unit (SPU) designed to add vault-like characteristics to existing layers of Qualcomm Technologies’ mobile security solutions.

Naturally, Qualcomm also integrates its cutting-edge LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth features. The Snapdragon 845 integrates Qualcomm’s second-generation Gigabit LTE solution – the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem. The X20 can support peak download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps.

Wi-Fi speeds go up to 4.6 Gbps, and integrated 802.11ac Wi-Fi with advanced features provide up to 16X faster connections.

The Snapdragon 845 is currently sampling to customers and is expected to begin shipping in commercial devices in early 2018. Snapdragon 845 will power devices such as smartphones, XR headsets and always connected PCs.

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