Specs of Qualcomm's first ARM processor capable of running Windows 10 leaked

Reading time icon 7 min. read


Readers help support MSPoweruser. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

Windows10-Qualcomm-Snapdragon-1024x576 Microsoft

Qualcomm is set to launch its next-gen Snapdragon processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company’s upcoming Snapdragon processor, the Snapdragon 835 will be its flagship processor that will also be the first ARM processor capable of running full Windows 10.Ahead of CES, essentially every important info about the Snapdragon 835 has been leaked. The official press release for the processor seems to have been leaked by the popular leaker Evan Blass (aka @evleaks).

According to the leaked press release, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 sports the Qualcomm Kryo 280 CPU (quad-core), Qualcomm Adreno 540 GPU, and Qualcomm Hexagon DSP to manage the different workloads. All of this combined together will result in a 27% increase in performance when compared to the previous generation.

Qualcomm is also making significant improvements with the Snapdragon 835 when it comes to power consumption. To be precise, the Snapdragon 835 consumes 40% less power than the older generation which is supposed to offer the following:

1+ day of talk time, 5+ days of music playback, and 7+ hours of 4K video streaming. Should your phone need more power, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 provides five hours of battery life for five minutes of charging.

Qualcomm stated in the press release that the Snapdragon also comes with substantial improvements for the graphics rendering and virtual reality. According to the company, the Snapdragon 835 includes “game-changing” enhancements to accurate audio, intuitive interactions, and vibrant visuals. The processor also offers 25% faster 3D graphic rendering and produces 60X display colors than the Snapdragon 820.

The Snapdragon 835 is, of course, the first ARM processor capable of running Windows 10. The company teamed up with Microsoft to bring full Windows 10 to ARM devices, and we should start seeing Windows 10 devices powered by the Snapdragon 835 later this year.

You can read the full leaked press release below.

Snapdragon 835 is powering the next generation of mobile experiences:

As we embark on a new era of intelligent, connected experiences, our mobile devices are going to need a new, one-of-a-kind processor that’s smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient than any chipset in history. Meet the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.

Our newest mobile processor is designed to meet every one of these rigorous requirements while setting new standards in mobile performance. Using a new 10nm design with more than three billion ultra-efficient transistors, Snapdragon 835 is 30 percent smaller than Snapdragon 820. This pivotal size reduction and efficiency boost allow OEMs to manufacture thinner phones with larger batteries that run on less power and last longer. All told, Snapdragon 835 uses 40 percent less power than the previous generation and provides up to a 27 percent performance increase.

With these architectural improvements, we’ve opened up more space on Snapdragon 835 to deliver five key improvements that will drive tomorrow’s mobile experiences: ultra-fast charging and multi-day battery life, jaw-dropping virtual and live immersion, the most advanced camera capabilities, gigabit LTE connectivity, and inside-out security — all of it complemented by machine learning to make our devices stunningly intelligent.

Snapdragon 835: Battery Life

We’ve custom-built a more efficient SoC for today’s power user (read: all of us) who regularly streams music, uploads videos, takes conference calls, and plays VR games. There isn’t one type of processor for all applications, so Snapdragon 835 calls on the Qualcomm Kryo 280 CPU, Qualcomm Adreno 540 GPU, and Qualcomm Hexagon DSP to manage separate workloads — all of them tightly integrated by Qualcomm Symphony System Manager to support better thermals and longer battery life.

Along with the new 10nm design, these multi-pronged, harmonized computing solutions bring unprecedented energy improvements. They include: 1+ day of talk time, 5+ days of music playback, and 7+ hours of 4K video streaming. Should your phone need more power, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 provides five hours of battery life for five minutes of charging.

Snapdragon 835: Immersive AR and VR

Snapdragon 835 builds on the success of the Snapdragon VR820, the platform that brought immersive VR to mobile. Snapdragon 835 features game-changing enhancements to the three most important VR requirements: accurate audio, vibrant visuals, and intuitive interactions. Designed to meet VR processing demands within strict thermal and power constraints, Snapdragon 835 offers 25 percent faster 3D graphic rendering and 60X more display colors when compared to Snapdragon 820.

To generate true-to-life sound, Snapdragon 835 supports scene- and object-based audio and audiophile-grade DSD audio. And for the most intuitive and comfortable user experiences on VR, the new SoC produces a 20 percent reduction in motion-to-photon latency and six-degrees-of-freedom for precise and pleasant motion tracking. All of these improvements are made possible by a heterogeneous computing approach that isolates different parts of Snapdragon 835 for audio, video, and motion functions, delivering the best user experience and the most efficient processing.

Snapdragon 835: Capture

The camera is an indispensable part of our phone and lives. To meet the ever-changing needs of power users and enable them to create new mobile experiences, Snapdragon 835 introduces improvements to mobile photography, camcorder, and video playback.

We’ve improved zoom and stabilization for photos and videos by developing highly optimized software algorithms that intelligently toggle between processing sub-systems like the Qualcomm Hexagon DSP, Qualcomm Spectra 180 ISP, and Adreno 540 GPU to deliver a smooth zoom experience. Furthermore, Qualcomm’s newest generation of video stabilization software, EIS 3.0, provides superior, 4K video stabilization through advanced yaw, roll, and rolling shutter correction.

We’re also introducing major enhancements to auto-focus. New support for Dual Photodiode (2PD) and enhancements to our hybrid auto-focus framework bring intelligent phase and lighting detection to users’ devices, ensuring that they never miss another important moment because of bad camera focus. And Qualcomm Clear Sight is engineered to fuse together images for improved sharpness, noise reduction, and dynamic range.

Snapdragon 835: Connectivity

Optimum LTE connectivity is the key to unlocking mobile applications today and in the future. Power users want access to 360-degree VR video, cloud storage with speeds rivaling local flash, fast-caching, Hi-Fi movies and music, and instant app usage — all without delays or quality degradation. Snapdragon 835 is designed to deliver each of these key experiences through the integrated Snapdragon X16 LTE modem and customized support for 802.11ad Wi-Fi, giving power users gigabit and multi-gigabit experiences wherever they are.

Supporting peak download speeds up to 10X faster than first-generation 4G LTE devices, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is designed to obtain peak speeds on a number of fronts. The modem hauls in information with advanced 256-QAM digital signal processing, receives data on four antennas through 4×4 MIMO, and supports up to 4X carrier aggregation for optimized peak throughput. And with the new 10nm architecture, the X16 LTE modem has a 45 percent smaller footprint and 60 percent better power efficiency.

Snapdragon 835: Security

Power users require advanced hardware- and software-based security. Snapdragon 835’s Qualcomm Haven Security Platform provides three layers of security on SoC, device, and system levels. Haven uses pins and fingerprints to authenticate the user interface and eye- and face-based security to authenticate the camera. At the same time, Haven runs device attestation on the software, apps and OS, and hardware. The end result is a security platform that continuously and thoroughly authenticates both the user and the device, protecting the reams of new information and transactions taking place on our phones.

Snapdragon 835: Machine Learning

Woven through these key five improved mobile experiences is Qualcomm’s machine learning platform. It’s designed to provide intelligent, on-device capabilities that utilize the computing strength of Snapdragon 835 to make our devices smarter. Real-world use cases include object recognition for better photos, real-time hand-tracking for immersive VR, voice recognition for a low-power virtual assistant, and biometric authentication that knows and protects users. These applications make our devices smarter, more dynamic, and more useful.

With long battery life, immersive experiences, cutting-edge camera capabilities, and gigabit-class download speeds, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor is providing the phenomenal mobile performance power users need and expect.

More about the topics: ces, CES 2017, microsoft, qualcomm snapdragon, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, snapdragon, Snapdragon 835, windows 10, Windows 10 on ARM, x86 Emulation