Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 with improved CPU and GPU performance

At CES 2022, Qualcomm today announced the new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Compute Platform for premium Windows devices. Qualcomm claims that this new SoC will deliver up to 85% faster CPU performance and 60% faster GPU performance. Thanks to 5nm manufacturing process, devices based on Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 should offer multiday battery life.

Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 highlights:

• Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 marks the World’s First 5nm Windows PC platform.
• Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 delivers an up to 85% generational performance uplift and up to 60% greater performance per watt over the competitive x86 platform.
• The updated Qualcomm Adreno GPU will deliver a staggering performance improvement of up to 60% versus our previous generation.
• Supports gaming at full HD (up to 120 FPS) and is optimized to allow users to game up to 50% longer than certain competing platforms.
• Utilizing the Qualcomm Spectra ISP with improved camera start-up time, users can begin video conferences up to 15% faster than with our previous generation. 8cx Gen 3 delivers the latest generation 3A – Auto focus, Auto White Balance, and Auto Exposure.
• Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 enables crystal clear audio in almost any environment, with Qualcomm Noise and Echo Cancellation technology – part of the Qualcomm Voice Suite.
• Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 also supports up to 4K HDR camera quality, and up to 4 cameras for new use cases.
• 8cx Gen 3 delivers an incredible 29+ TOPS of AI acceleration, almost 3X the leading competitive platform.
• For managed systems in the Enterprise or Education segments, the Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit (SPU) implements Microsoft Pluton Security Solution for Windows 11 and can help to securely store sensitive data such as credentials, personal data, and encryption keys directly on the SoC.
• 8cx Gen 3 also introduces a camera security framework supporting Windows Hello login and a dedicated Computer Vision processor for continuous authentication that helps ensure the user’s device automatically locks when they leave their machine.
• 8cx Gen 3 also introduces runtime memory encryption, while Zero Trust frameworks can use more sensors and connection health monitoring to enable real-time authentication of access to corporate resources.
• Support for Snapdragon X55, X62, or X65 5G Modem-RF systems allow devices powered by 8cx Gen 3 to reach lightning-fast speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
• 8cx Gen 3 also features Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 to enable the fastest Wi-Fi 6/6E speeds available – with Wi-Fi Dual Station, developed in collaboration with Microsoft for Windows 11, utilizing Qualcomm 4-stream Dual Band Simultaneous technology.
• Devices powered by 8cx Gen 3 also seamlessly switch between trusted Wi-Fi 6/6E and 5G or 4G LTE networks.

Along with the 8cx Gen 3, Qualcomm also announced the new Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 Compute Platform for entry-level devices. The Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 is built on the 6nm process delivering up to 60% faster CPU performance and up to 70% faster GPU performance uplift. The 7c+ Gen 3 also features 5G connectivity for the first time. The integrated Snapdragon X53 5G Modem-RF system supports 5G sub-6 and mmWave– enabling download speeds of up to 3.7 Gbps. The included FastConnect 6700 brings multi-gigabit Wi-Fi 6 and 6E with speeds up to 2.9 Gbps.

Devices powered by Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 and Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 are expected to be available in the first half of 2022.

Source: Qualcomm