Smartphones have been around for more than a decade. With the continuous popularity of smart phones, mobile phone chips, which were rarely paid attention to in the early days of supply chain products, have also become the focus of everyone's attention and discussion.
And "Qualcomm Snapdragon", almost accompanied by the rise of smart phones, everyone is certainly not unfamiliar. Over the years, it has almost become synonymous with mobile phone chips, from flagship to entry-level.
However, Qualcomm Snapdragon has long been no longer a simple chip, and the official title has long been changed to "mobile platform".
Today's Qualcomm Snapdragon has covered CPU, GPU, network communication, RF front-end, CPU, GPU, ISP, DSP, AI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, fast charging, audio, fingerprint recognition and other mobile technologies, covering all aspects of mobile products, bringing the most comprehensive and powerful performance guarantee to everyone's mobile devices.
And all of this began in November 2007 with the advent of the Snapdragon S1 processor, which opened the legendary road of Snapdragon.
Snapdragon S Series: Emerging from the beginning to dominate one side
Snapdragon S1 is a 65nm process processor, which left a deep impression at the time, and in the second year after its advent, the first Android-equipped mobile phone HTC Dream was officially unveiled with it at the same time.
In that time period, HTC also became the hegemon of the mobile phone market with the Snapdragon processor and Android system, and Apple's iPhone was only a baby who had just landed.
However, Qualcomm Snapdragon, which was still young at the time, had just been born after all, and a clear system had not yet been formed in product naming and planning.
Along with the S1, the S2 series was also introduced, consisting of the MSM8255/8655, MSM7230/7630 and APQ8055, and the once very classic Sony LT15i was equipped with the MSM8255 processor of the S2 series.
The domestic market really generally recognizes the Snapdragon processor, or start from the Snapdragon S3 series, including MSM8260/8660 and APQ8060 three versions, the first time to achieve dual-core Scorpion CPU, and integrated Adreno 220 GPU.
In 2011, Xiaomi's first generation of mobile phones was equipped with the S3 series of MSM8260 dual-core 1.5GHz processor, with 1G running memory + 4G body storage, which was a real fever-level configuration at the time, and quickly opened the market by relying on the price of 1999 yuan.
Later, Qualcomm expanded the Snapdragon S4 series, including four sub-series of Play, Plus, Pro and Prime, and has a very large product line.
The Xiaomi 2nd generation, which was popular in panda color, was equipped with the S4 series of high-end positioned APQ8064 processors and a high-performance four-core Krait CPU.
Qualcomm also successfully defeated NVIDIA and Texas Instruments with the super performance of the S4 processor, making it both eclipse the mobile phone chip market, and qualcomm has occupied more than 40% of the mobile chip market since then, becoming a veritable overlord of mobile phone chips.
Snapdragon 800 Series: Step by Step Climb to the Top
After the iteration of these four large series, Qualcomm also seems to realize that such a difficult name will be difficult to leave a deep impression on the minds of consumers, so from 2013, it will use the name of Snapdragon + number.
This year, Snapdragon 600 was officially born, the leading process of 28nm, as well as a powerful quad-core CPU design, won the favor of many mobile phone manufacturers at that time, many large manufacturers used it in flagship mobile phones, such as the popular Samsung S4, HTC ONE and so on.
After that, Qualcomm continued the idea of the Snapdragon 600 series and launched the Snapdragon 200, 400, and 800 series, which constituted the overall product planning layout, covering all the high-end, high-end and low-end markets, and this naming rule has also been continued.
Snapdragon 800 is the newly named first top mobile platform, using a 28nm process of asynchronous quad-core Krait 400 CPU, the main frequency can reach up to 2.3GHz, holding the universal computing Adreno 330 GPU performance is very powerful, impressive.
Later, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 801 and Snapdragon 805, which also set an incredible record of ultra-high frequency of 2.7GHz, becoming the standard mobile platform for flagship smartphones in 2014, and the Snapdragon mobile platform also successfully occupied the entire high-end mobile phone processor market.
In 2015, Qualcomm released a new generation of 64-bit Snapdragon 820 processor, based on Qualcomm's self-developed Kryo architecture, which not only greatly improved performance compared with the previous generation, but also improved heat and signal problems.
That year was also the peak year of LeTV's mobile phones with Qualcomm flagship processors and ultra-low prices.
In 2016, Qualcomm took advantage of the victory to release the Snapdragon 835, CPU/GPU performance has almost been a leap forward, based on Samsung's first-generation 10nm process, compared with 14nm not only chip size reduction of 30%, but also speed increased by 27%, efficiency increased by 40%, power consumption reduced by 40%.
Thanks to the excellent performance and energy efficiency ratio of the Snapdragon 835, countless divine machines were born this year, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 series, one plus mobile phone 5, and the famous nail household Xiaomi Mi 6 in the mobile phone circle.
Snapdragon 845 is still based on Samsung 10nm process to build, the highest frequency of 2.8GHz, which is also the first time Qualcomm broke the high frequency record of Snapdragon 805, with Adreno 630 GPU, stronger performance, Xiaomi MIX2S, Xiaomi 8, OPPO Find X, Nut R1 and countless word-of-mouth works have been equipped with this chip.
The 5G era is coming: Snapdragon is gradually "sealing the gods"
In 2018, Snapdragon also officially entered the 5G era, and officially released the world's first 5G SoC Snapdragon 855 on December 5 of that year, with a 5G baseband.
It adopts TSMC 7nm process, the CPU adopts the octa-core Kryo 485 architecture, 1+3+4 size core combination, the highest frequency is 2.84GHz, the GPU is Adreno 640, and the CPU and GPU are 45% and 20% higher than the Snapdragon 845, respectively.
In 2019, a god U was born - Snapdragon 865 mobile platform, which is also the predecessor of the hottest high-end mobile platform Snapdragon 870.
Snapdragon 865 adopts 1+3+4 triple-cluster Kryo 585 architecture, Cortex-A77 large core maximum frequency of 2.84GHz, GPU for Adreno 650, the overall performance has been improved by 25%, with the integrated X55 5G baseband, Spectra 480 ISP, Wi-Fi 6, etc., laying the foundation of the legendary chip.
After the unveiling is our most familiar friend Snapdragon 888, a very special name, based on 5nm, using 1+3+4 triple-cluster CPU architecture, Cortex-X1 super core frequency of 2.84GHz, GPU upgrade to Adreno 660, image rendering speed increased by 35%, the first time joined VRS, game performance significantly improved.
At the end of last year, Qualcomm made the biggest change in the past decade, naming the new SoC as a new generation of Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, that is, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, using a 4nm process, the CPU part of the Cortex-X2 super core frequency of 3.0GHz, all based on ARM v9 pure 64-bit instruction set to create an 8-core Kryo, CPU performance increased by 20%. Reduce energy consumption by up to 30%.
In other ways, the new generation of Adreno GPUs has improved performance by 30%, reduced energy consumption by 25%, and upgraded Snapdragon Sight to bring 18-bit three-channel ISP and 8K HDR video shooting.
At the same time, it also has a built-in Snapdragon X65 5G baseband, which is the world's first modem and RF system that supports 10Gbps 5G rates and the first modem and RF system that meets the 3GPP Release 16 specification, which can achieve a maximum 5G download rate of 10Gbps, becoming one of the strongest 5G chips on the surface, and Qualcomm's 5G performance has also become synonymous with the strongest 5G.
Snapdragon Sub-Era: Gaming, Audio, Video, Connectivity
Following the release of the new Generation Snapdragon 8, Alex Katuzan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile, Computing and Infrastructure Business, Qualcomm Technologies, said: "As the world's most advanced mobile platform, Snapdragon is synonymous with the top Android experience, and the new Generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform will set a new benchmark for the next generation of flagship mobile terminals and bring unprecedented connectivity, imaging, AI, gaming, audio and security experiences to smartphones. ”
After the continuous development of Qualcomm over the years, the modules such as games, audio, audio and connectivity have become independent, and Jin has evolved into sub-brands such as Snapdragon Elite Gaming, Snapdragon Sound, Snapdragon Sight, Snapdragon Connect, etc., forming a powerful product matrix of Snapdragon to jointly protect the user's flagship experience.
Snapdragon Elite Gaming can optimize the powerful Adreno GPU performance, touch, etc. separately, greatly improving the game frame rate and screen effect, supporting VRS variable resolution rendering technology, VRS Pro variable resolution rendering advanced version, can render non-visual focus content at different resolutions, greatly reduce the workload of the GPU, without sacrificing the player's visual effects, improve the game frame rate, and reduce power consumption. It's a two-pronged fight.
Based on VRS and VRS Pro technology, game manufacturers can further improve the picture quality of games and squeeze the performance of mobile phones, while mobile phone manufacturers can make mobile phones take into account battery life and low calorie effects at high frame rates, bringing users a more worry-free super game experience.
Snapdragon Sound Snapdragon Listening is a solution dedicated to providing ultra-clear lossless sound quality, through the integrated Bluetooth 5.2 and Snapdragon Sound Snapdragon Listening technology, combined with Qualcomm aptX Lossless lossless audio technology to achieve CD-quality lossless wireless audio, users can enjoy the new ultra-clear voice and music.
The platform is also the first Snapdragon mobile platform to support the new LE Audio features, including broadcast audio, stereo audio recording, and game voice synchronization backhaul.
Simply put, Snapdragon Sound brings together Qualcomm's strongest audio technology, providing engaging music, clear voice calls, and extremely low latency, which can also bring a stronger immersive gaming experience from this dimension.
Snapdragon Sight is an IMAGING-focused ISP brand, the 18-bit ISP on the new Snapdragon 8 is part of snapdragon Sight, which handles 3.2 billion pixels per second, can take 200 million pixels of photos at a time or take 3 photos of 36 million pixels at the same time, which is also the core hardware basis of multi-frame compositing, so that its super night shooting mode from the previous 5-frame stack to the 30-frame stack.
In terms of video, the new Snapdragon 8 is the first mobile platform to support 8K HDR video shooting, support HDR10 and HDR10+ shooting, and can simultaneously perform electronic image stabilization, and even achieve 64 MP photos while recording 8K/30 video.
The evolution of these images is also the basic support for the current crazy competition photo effects and gameplay in the flagship machine, making the flagship machine more flagship.
Snapdragon Connect is qualcomm's current strength - connectivity, which not only includes 5G, but also the industry's strongest Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other technologies, allowing users to enjoy a high-speed and reliable connection experience.
For example, Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 mobile connection system supports the fastest Wi-Fi speed of up to 3.6Gbps through Wi-Fi 6/6E.
At the same time, it can also ensure that users can quickly and stably transmit data in various devices and scenarios, minimize latency, and improve latency-sensitive application experiences such as networked games, XR, and edge computing.
Back to that: Snapdragon has spread all over the mobile field and has full platform coverage
The above capabilities of Qualcomm Snapdragon are not limited to mobile phones, whether it is smart phones, routers, headphones, laptops, VR/AR headsets or cars, etc., will be widely used, and more mobile fields will be expanded in the future.
Standing today looking back at history, snapdragon's development in the past 15 years is almost the script of "Shuangwen male protagonist", from its birth to the rapid rise of the smart phone market, and naturally occupied the upper hand, becoming a well-deserved leader, and has now become synonymous with flagship mobile phones.
In this journey, Snapdragon has also gradually cultivated and expanded the coverage field, has gone beyond the simple concept of "mobile phone computing platform", in addition to SoC, 5G, in the XR, automotive these next stage of the more magnificent market has also been rooted, has become a huge complex in the mobile field, has become a mobile platform empire, from all angles to bring consumers the top mobile experience.