Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Gen 3: Here's the full, comprehensive comparison
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It’s not exaggerating to call Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 a new AI marvel in town, but the burning question we now have is: how does the new gen hold up to its predecessor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2?
We’ve previously and exclusively reported it’ll be the tech maker’s debut in a mobile platform designed specifically for generative AI, so there’s no denying that it could be the next big thing.
The new smartphone chip will also be used in top-of-the-line phones from many different companies. Will it be the upcoming Galaxy S24 in February? Or will Google finally ditch Tensor for this?
Who knows, but one thing is for sure: the leaked internal document reveals some of the top brands, including ASUS, Honor, OnePlus, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Redmi — with the Snapdragon Seamless ecosystem (via Windows Report) coming soon, this will be a game-changer.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Gen 2: Full comparison
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will have ray tracing and upscale cutscenes up to 8K, challenging the iPhone 15. Its CPU is a 64-bit architecture with 1 Prime core up to 3.3 GHz, 5 Performance cores up to 3.2 GHz, and 2 Efficiency cores up to 2.3 GHz.
Besides that, it also supports Qualcomm Sensing Hub with dual micro NPUs for audio and sensors (just like its predecessor), and dual Always-Sensing ISPs to support two concurrent Always-Sensing Cameras.
But, enough with the tech jargon. What’s the comparison like between Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Gen 2? Take a peep at the table below.
| Indicator(s) | Gen 2 | Gen 3 |
| Artificial Intelligence |
GPU Name: Qualcomm Adreno CPU Name: Qualcomm Kryo NPU Name: Qualcomm Hexagon Features: Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Dedicated power delivery system, Qualcomm Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Micro Tile Inferencing, Fused AI Accelerator architecture, Hexagon Direct Link Qualcomm Sensing Hub: Dual-core AI processor, Always-sensing camera |
GPU Name: Qualcomm Adreno
CPU Name: Qualcomm Kyro NPU Name: Qualcomm Hexagon Features: Fused AI accelerator architecture, Hexagon scalar, vector, and tensor accelerators, Hexagon Direct Link, Upgraded Micro Tile Inferencing, Upgraded power delivery system, Support for mix precision (INT8+INT16), Support for all precisions (INT4, INT8, INT16, FP16) Qualcomm Sensing Hub: Dual micro NPUs for audio and sensors, Dual Always-Sensing ISPs to support two concurrent Always-Sensing Cameras, Support for INT4 precision |
| CPU |
Qualcomm Kyro CPU • 64-bit Architecture |
Qualcomm Kyro CPU • 64-bit Architecture |
| Visual Subsystem | Qualcomm Adreno GPU
• Real-time Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing |
Qualcomm Adreno GPU
• Real-time Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing |
| 5G Modem-RF System | Snapdragon X70 5G
Downlink: Up to 10 Gbps |
Snapdragon X75 5G
Downlink: Up to 10 Gbps |
| Wi-Fi & Bluetooth | Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 System • Wi-Fi Generation: Wi-Fi 7 • Peak speed: 5.8 Gbps• Bluetooth audio: Snapdragon Sound Technology with support for Qualcomm aptX Voice, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, and LE Audio • Bluetooth features: Bluetooth 5.3, LE Audio, Dual Bluetooth antennas |
Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 System • Wi-Fi Generation: Wi-Fi 7 • Peak Speed: 5.8 Gbps• Bluetooth Audio: Snapdragon Sound™ Technology with support for Qualcomm XPAN Technology, Qualcomm aptX Voice, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, and LE Audio • Bluetooth Features: Bluetooth 5.4, LE Audio, Dual Bluetooth antennas |
| Display | On-Device Display Support for 4K @ 60 Hz & QHD+ @ 144 Hz
Maximum External Display Support: Demura and subpixel rendering for OLED Uniformity OLED Aging Compensation |
On-Device Display Support for 4K @ 60 Hz & QHD+ @ 144 HzMaximum External Display Support: • Up to 8K @ 30 Hz • Up to 1080 @ 240 HzVariable Refresh Rate support for 240 Hz to 1 Hz • 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut • HDR10, HDR10+, HDR vivid, and Dolby Vision |
| Audio | Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), Playback: -108dB Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite Spatial Audio with Head Tracking |
Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N) Playback: -108dB Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite Spatial audio with head-tracking |
| Memory | Support for LP-DDR5x memory up to 4200 MHz Memory Density: up to 24 GB | Support for LP-DDR5x memory, up to 4800 MHz Memory Density: Up to 24 GB |
| Security | Platform Security Foundations, Trusted Execution
Environment & Services, Secure Processing Unit (SPU) Trust Management Engine Qualcomm wireless edge services (WES) and premium security features Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor and Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max (fingerprint sensor) Qualcomm Type-1 Hypervisor |
Trust Management Engine (Root of Trust), along with platform-level security foundationsSupport for Android’s DICE-based remote key provisioningQualcomm Trusted Execution Environment & Services (TEE) for use cases requiring higher processing assurance Qualcomm Type-1 Hypervisor for isolation from the high-level OS Secure Processing Unit (SPU) with support for the Android latest Strongbox SW components Qualcomm wireless edge services (WES) for secure Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor and Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max (fingerprint sensor) |
Oh, didn’t we also mention that details of the upcoming high-end Snapdragon X Elite have been leaked? It’ll go wheel-to-wheel with the popular Apple M-series chipsets in terms of performance, featuring 12 Oryon high-performance cores, LPDDR5X memory that can support up to 136GB/s, and Adreno GPU that can deliver 4.6 TFLOPS with triple 4K display support.
