Recently, many mobile gamers must be looking forward to NetEase's "Against the Water and Cold" mobile game, which will be in public beta on June 30. Not long ago, IT House also obtained the qualification for the second closed test, giving everyone an early experience. The overall feeling is that the immersion of mobile games is indeed getting better and better, not only with the picture quality comparable to the end game, but also in the gameplay experience has also been a lot of innovation, such as the "Against the Water and Cold" mobile game based on AI intelligence brought by various interesting gameplay.
Behind these advances, in addition to the efforts of game manufacturers, the evolution of mobile terminals such as smartphones in terms of performance and game feature support is also crucial. The capabilities of terminals such as smartphones mainly depend on the blessing of the underlying chip platform, so the evolution of mobile chip technology can be said to be the "core driving force" for better and better mobile gaming experience.
For example, in the Android camp, the most inescapable is the support of the Snapdragon mobile platform for mobile game experience, from basic performance to high-end experience such as audio and video to cooperation with the entire game industry chain, it is not an exaggeration to say that behind every improvement in mobile game experience, you can see the shadow of Snapdragon.
Powerful performance to ensure the basic smooth experience of mobile games
Performance is the foundation that supports all gaming experiences, and without the blessing of strong hardware performance, other high-end gaming experiences cannot be discussed. For the Snapdragon mobile platform, leading CPU and GPU performance are the foundation of its ability to lead the progress of gaming experience.
Take the latest flagship second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, it has a new generation of Kryo CPU, based on the ARMv9 instruction set, including 1 3.2GHz Cortex-X3 supercore, 4 performance cores running at 2.8GHz, respectively, a combination of 2× Cortex-A715 and 2×Cortex-A710, and an efficiency core with a frequency of 2.0GHz, the overall performance is 35% higher than the first-generation Snapdragon 8, while improving energy efficiency 40%。
In terms of GPUs, the new generation of Adreno GPUs has improved performance by 25% and energy efficiency by up to 45%. At the same time, the new Adreno GPU supports the Vulkan 1.3 API graphics interface standard for the first time, improving Vulkan performance by up to 30%.
In terms of memory, the second-generation Snapdragon 8 supports LPDDR5X with a frequency of up to 4200MHz, and the storage supports the new UFS 4.0.
Since the launch of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, many mobile phone manufacturers have proved the powerful performance of this chip with their flagship mobile phones, such as the OnePlus 11 mobile phone, known for its wild performance, IT House in the evaluation, its AnTuTu running score can reach as much as 1311459 points, GeekBench 5 single-core 1475, multi-core 5015, are the performance ceiling level in smartphones.
In terms of power consumption, the performance of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 does not have to worry, as mentioned earlier, the energy efficiency of the Kryo CPU has increased by 40%, and the energy efficiency of the Adreno GPU has increased by 45%. The improvement in energy efficiency has greatly reduced the heat of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 flagship mobile phone when playing games. As a result, more stable performance output can be maintained, and the gaming experience is more stable.
Or take the OnePlus 11 equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 platform, use it to run 30 minutes of "Genshin", the average frame rate can reach 59.6fps, smooth and smooth, very smooth, and the maximum temperature of the fuselage is 43.7 °C, and the control of heat is also very good.
Smooth and stable is the most basic and indispensable element of the game experience, not only the second generation of Snapdragon 8, but also the Snapdragon mobile platform has always relied on the industry-leading performance and energy efficiency level, so that the majority of players do not have to worry about whether the game is stuck, dropped frames, and whether it can run stably and other basic problems, you can enjoy a smooth game experience with confidence.
From graphics and sound quality to AI, these high-end mobile game experiences are all required
Of course, players' pursuit of mobile gaming experience will obviously not stop at smooth and stable operation, on this basis, picture quality, sound to AI interaction, etc., are the key to creating a sense of immersion in the game experience.
Quality
Let's start with the image quality that everyone pays the most attention to. The progress of mobile game graphics over the years is obvious to all, such as from 2015's "Gathering Explosion" to the aforementioned latest "Against the Water and Cold" mobile game, the evolution of picture quality is very significant.
The improvement of mobile game picture quality is first attributed to the high performance of mobile GPUs over the years, the most representative of which is the long-term exploration of Adreno GPU on the mobile mobile platform in the field of mobile graphics. The GPU series has evolved over multiple generations, evolving performance and incorporating more and more mobile gaming technologies. For example, the Vulkan standard first introduced by Qualcomm in the Adreno 530 GPU in 2015 and so on.
Another key driving factor for the advancement of mobile game quality is the continuous introduction of these mobile game technologies, which are like magic, on the basis of powerful performance, to bring more realistic elements to the game screen.
Speaking of which, it has to be said that the Snapdragon mobile platform integrates all of these technologies that can enhance the game experience (of course, not only the technology related to image quality), and collectively refers to Snapdragon Elite Gaming.
Qualcomm first integrated Snapdragon Elite Gaming on the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform in 2018, and Snapdragon Elite Gaming has also evolved with the iteration of the Snapdragon mobile platform over the years. For example, in the first generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming, Qualcomm introduced a technology similar to ray tracing - physically based rendering (PBR). This is a collection of rendering techniques designed to use physics algorithms to simulate the real world more realistically, the most important of which is to use lighting calculations that are closer to the theory of realistic physics to achieve more realistic lighting effects, thereby greatly improving the quality of the game.
For example, the second generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming also introduced end-game-level forward rendering technology. This technology can deeply optimize the game image quality from depth of field, multi-dynamic light sources, motion blur, plane reflections, etc., resulting in a more realistic and immersive picture quality.
In addition, the introduction of variable resolution rendering (VRS) technology, stereoscopic rendering and other technologies has accelerated the evolution of mobile game quality.
Recently, it is naturally the hardware-level mobile ray tracing of the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, and Qualcomm has added a special mobile ray tracing acceleration unit to the new Adreno GPU to be responsible for the processing of the ray tracing effect.
The improvement brought by hardware-level mobile ray tracing technology to the game screen is mainly reflected in three aspects, one is soft shadow, that is, high-fidelity penumbra rendering, the second is the reflection of light, which can accurately present the reflection of the object on the smooth surface of the object, and the third is ambient light occlusion, that is, the light and shadow effects of the surrounding environment also become delicate and real.
Hardware-level mobile ray tracing will undoubtedly play a huge role in promoting the progress of mobile game quality, and as it is gradually applied to more games, we will see more realistic and immersive game graphics in mobile games.
audio
In addition to the picture quality, there is also the audio, which can enhance the immersion of the game experience, and the sound experience with a sense of presence can quickly pull the player into the world of the game.
This point for students who like to play chicken on the mobile phone believe that there is a deep experience, bring headphones, "click" footsteps, "click" change of ammunition, vehicle driving sound, shooting sound, etc., can quickly allow players to enter the exciting battle, listen to the sound of position, hear the sound and move, a series of operations, all rely on the efficient operation of the game acoustic system.
The Snapdragon mobile platform is one of the proponents of such an immersive sound experience. For example, they launched aptX and aptX Adaptive audio technology early on, to provide CD-level, high-fidelity wireless audio transmission quality, and low latency characteristics, with Qualcomm TrueWireless stereo technology, which can bring players a high-quality, low-power and low-latency game audio experience.
In 2021, Qualcomm launched Snapdragon Sound, which integrates and optimizes Qualcomm's innovations in audio, connectivity and mobile to create a seamless immersive audio experience for devices such as smartphones, wireless earbuds and headphones.
On the first-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform that year, Qualcomm combined the low-power optimization platform with low-power audio and traditional Bluetooth technology to enable a new audio experience. They also worked with Audiokinetic and Wwise software to offload these additional CPU tasks to Qualcomm Hexagon processors for processing. This frees up CPU load, allowing it to provide better game audio quality with features such as ultra-high sound quality sound and 360-degree spatial audio.
As for the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm has added dynamic spatial audio support to Snapdragon Sound's Snapdragon Listening technology, imagining that if there is a mobile game that supports spatial audio in the future, it will undoubtedly bring a more immersive gaming experience.
.AI
I believe that players who love games will be full of expectations for the application of AI in the game, and better AI will bring endless possibilities for the gameplay, such as when you team up with computer teammates, you must also hope that they can behave like real teammates and gallop with themselves on the battlefield.
Over the years, the application of AI in mobile games has indeed become more and more in-depth and extensive, and it is natural to benefit from the skyrocketing AI performance of mobile chip platforms.
Let's take the Snapdragon mobile platform as an example. We know that the AI capabilities of the Snapdragon mobile platform are primarily powered by the Qualcomm AI engine. In 2015, Qualcomm introduced the first generation of Qualcomm AI Engine in the Snapdragon 820 chip, and to the current second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm AI Engine has undergone multiple generations of development. While AI performance continues to upgrade, Qualcomm has also been trying to use AI to drive the evolution of gaming experience.
For example, in 2019, Qualcomm cooperated with vivo, Tencent King Honor team and Tencent AI Lab to use the heterogeneous computing capabilities of the fourth-generation Qualcomm AI engine on the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform to migrate the AI inference capabilities of mobile games from the cloud to the terminal side on the first large-scale scale on vivo's iQOO mobile phone, allowing multiplayer real-time combat competitive (MOBA) games represented by "Honor of Kings" to upgrade and optimize the experience. At that time, vivo also built a mobile AI e-sports team SUPEX based on the computing power of the fourth-generation Qualcomm AI engine, and its intelligent performance in actual combat was eye-catching.
I believe that friends who love "Honor of Kings" must also find that the level of computer AI in man-machine combat is becoming more and more intelligent, more and more powerful, and the fun of challenges has increased significantly, which obviously has the credit of Qualcomm's AI engine.
In recent years, the performance of each generation of Qualcomm AI Engine is growing rapidly, such as the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm AI Engine has also made very significant progress, Qualcomm has doubled the size of the tensor accelerator, greatly improving the efficiency of neural network computing, and also added a dedicated power supply system for the AI engine, and supported INT4 arithmetic unit for the first time, which has greatly improved the efficiency of the new AI engine, in addition to Hexagon direct connection, Features such as support for microslice inference have greatly enhanced the capabilities of the new AI engine.
With the blessing of the second generation of Snapdragon 8, the experience of mobile games in AI interaction is enough to surprise us. For example, the aforementioned "Against the Water and Cold" mobile game, when the editor experienced it, the deepest impression was various intelligent NPCs.
For example, when the editor stands in front of the young lady at the door, when people see that you are a woman, they will say: "Which girl is this, don't hinder my business." "After entering Sweetwater Alley, you will see big officials hugging left and right, poor scholars secretly vowing to redeem their beloved girls, drunk rich children lying on the wine table, girls with strong makeup next to them laughing and ridiculing, these characters dialogue is very natural, there is no sense of violation at all, will make you feel that they are living characters. This intelligent NPC mechanism that provides instant feedback on player behavior allows us to see the huge imagination space for AI applications in games. Of course, these are also achieved thanks to the powerful AI capabilities of the second-generation Snapdragon 8.
In addition to these, the Qualcomm AI engine of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 has another important breakthrough, that is, the development of cognitive AI. Cognitive AI, as the name implies, is to make AI aim to have the ability to approach human cognition, that is, AI can understand people's thoughts, emotions, needs, and then provide services on this basis.
While this is not an easy task, the second-generation Snapdragon 8 has already taken its first steps. And how cognitive AI will be applied in games in the future is very exciting.
connect
Finally, most of today's popular mobile games are online and have certain mobile e-sports attributes, so if you want to get a great gaming experience, it is also a test of the network connection ability of mobile terminals. And this is precisely the strength of the Snapdragon mobile platform.
For example, the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform uses the Snapdragon X70 5G modem and radio frequency system. In the Snapdragon X70, Qualcomm introduced the world's first 5G AI processor, which supports advanced functions such as Qualcomm 5G AI Suite, Qualcomm 5G Ultra-Low Latency Kit, 3rd Generation Qualcomm 5G PowerSave and Sub-6GHz quad-carrier aggregation, which can achieve 5G transmission speeds of up to 10Gbps.
At the same time, it also has the flagship FastConnect 7800 connectivity system, which supports advanced features of Wi-Fi 7, such as high-frequency concurrent multi-connection technology, which can simultaneously use two Wi-Fi radios to achieve high-frequency connection of four data streams, thereby greatly alleviating network congestion and other problems. Peak rates of 5.8Gbps on the 6GHz band and 4.3Gbps on 5GHz are 60% faster than the previous generation, while supporting sustained low latency of less than 2ms and 30-50% more energy efficiency.
With the blessing of such network features, everyone can use mobile phones to play games online, you can get a smooth, smooth and low-latency experience like a local, not to worry about problems such as lag and frame skipping caused by network congestion, so that you can be invincible in the battle.
Extensive and in-depth cooperation has created a flower of mobile game experience
The Snapdragon mobile platform is like a fertile soil, providing a variety of nutrients for a good gaming experience, but whether it can finally blossom the flower of experience requires more in-depth joint adaptation and optimization between the chip platform and game manufacturers and terminals.
The reason why everyone can get a better and better game experience when using mobile phones equipped with the Snapdragon mobile platform is precisely because Qualcomm has always maintained close cooperation with game manufacturers and terminal manufacturers to help them better use the powerful technology and capabilities of the Snapdragon mobile platform to make the game experience reach the most ideal state.
For example, the variable resolution rendering, end-game forward rendering, True 10-bit HDR and other technologies supported by Snapdragon Elite Gaming can be quickly applied to many game works, which is inseparable from the close cooperation between Qualcomm and OEM manufacturers and game developers. For example, Qualcomm has reached a strategic cooperation with Tencent Games for a long time, and everyone now sees that popular games such as "Honor of Kings" and "Peace Elite" have supported high frame rate mode, which is inseparable from Qualcomm's promotion.
For example, Qualcomm also cooperated deeply with mobile phone manufacturer iQOO and game manufacturer Perfect World to bring variable resolution rendering technology to the latest mobile game masterpiece "God of War Relics", which increased the frame rate stability of the game by 16.7%, reduced the frame drop rate by 19.2%, reduced the power consumption of the whole machine by 19.8%, and reduced the power consumption of graphics rendering by 31.0% under the extreme picture quality of 90 frames.
There is also the hardware-level mobile light tracing introduced by the new second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, and at the beginning of research and development, Qualcomm has carried out in-depth cooperation with NetEase's "Against the Water and Cold", iQOO, and "Oracle" mobile games for joint development. At the same time, the mobile ray tracing solution object light engine jointly developed by Qualcomm and OPPO will also drive more games to obtain the picture effect of hardware-level mobile light addition.
epilogue
As the ninth largest art in the world, games have important development significance both now and in the future. As an important part of the game, mobile games broaden the scene of the game, so that everyone can enjoy the pleasure brought by the game anytime, anywhere in the rest time after work, between waiting for the train, and the boring time on the subway. From this point of view, the comprehensive evolution of mobile game experience is of great significance for the game industry to break through boundaries and change people's daily entertainment methods.
Behind this, the underlying chip technology represented by the Snapdragon mobile platform undoubtedly escorts the most critical experience upgrade of mobile games, and this escort is not only at the level of performance support, but also involves a full range of "escort" such as game quality, sound, interaction, AI, and connection, and Qualcomm cooperates with the entire mobile game industry chain to truly inject "core power" into the development of mobile games.
The future of mobile gaming experiences is a reverie.