Check out the latest rumors about the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ processor, which is expected to pack a punch
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Qualcomm reveals benchmark scores of its latest flagship SoC – the Snapdragon 888
Qualcomm has today released the benchmark scores of its latest top-tier smartphone chip – the Snapdragon 888 – that is going to power the 2021 Android flagships. As expected, the new Qualcomm offering provides a noticeable leap in performance over its predecessor, which is not too surprising. Of course, the Snapdragon 888 will also fly during day-to-day usage, and is capable of handling any demanding task or graphics-intensive game you throw at it with ease.
Before we get into the actual benchmark scores, do keep in mind that the tests were done on a reference device that came equipped with a hefty 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 512GB storage, 3,780mAh battery, and an FHD+ display with 120Hz refresh rate. The hardware almost sounds like a template for what we can expect to find inside a 2021 Android flagship.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 scored 1135 in single-core and 3794 in multi-core Geekbench 5.0 tests, which is well above the average 980 single-core and 3200 multi-core Geekbench 5.0 scores of the Snapdragon 865+ inside the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. In comparison, the A14 Bionic powering the iPhone 12 series clocked an average of 1580 in single-core and 3600 in multi-core Geekbench 5.0 tests.
Coming to the AnTuTu benchmark (v8.3.4), the Snapdragon 888 clocked an impressive 735439. In comparison, the Snapdragon 865+ inside the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra records an average AnTuTu score in the range of 700000. However, when it comes to graphics intensive tests, the Snapdragon 888 appears to lag behind A14 Bionic inside the iPhone 12 Pro.
The benchmark sheet provided by Qualcomm shows that the Snapdragon 888 reference device clocked an average score of 169fps on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test running at 1080p resolution in off-screen mode. In comparison, a test result ran on the iPhone 12 Pro shows that the A14 Bionic reached a much higher score of 210fps.
Now, these are test results obtained on a reference device, which means the results obtained on a commercially available Snapdragon 888 smartphone will vary. Also, Qualcomm has cherry-picked the benchmark tests whose scores it has shared, which means we’ll have to wait for the first wave of Snapdragon 888 phones to perform the rest of the tests and see the actual picture.
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Samsung Galaxy S21 with Snapdragon 888 confirmed, rumors of improved features emerge
Just yesterday, we got to see some leaked video teasers of the complete Samsung Galaxy S21 series, but rumors don’t stop there. The latest ones suggest that the new Galaxy S21 will feature faster reverse wireless charging, a bigger and faster fingerprint scanner. Now, we also have official confirmation of one of the processors inside Samsung’s new flagship.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 will come with Qualcomm’s SM8350 processor under the hood in some markets. This information comes from a recent FCC certification that was granted to Samsung’s SM-G9991U. In other words, the upcoming Galaxy S21 series will feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 888 5G chipset in the US and South Korea, while other markets will receive Exynos 2100 processors.
Now, good news don’t stop there, as the certification also shows that the device will feature mmWave 5G, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and faster 9W reverse wireless charging. The device will also come equipped with a 4,000mAh battery, and the certification also mentions a 25W USB Type C fast charger, with model number EP-TA800 even though we can’t say if it will be included in the box, as previous rumors suggest that Samsung will also ditch power adapters and earphones with the next Samsung Galaxy S21 series.
Further, rumors claim that the Samsung Galaxy S21 will include a bigger and faster fingerprint scanner. This new rumor comes from a well-known leaker, Ice Universe, as he believes that Samsung is going to give its devices a new fingerprint scanner.
The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor of Galaxy S21 is 8×8=64mm, which is 1.77 times higher than the previous generation, and the unlocking speed is doubled. You don’t even need to press it, just tap to unlock.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 9, 2020
The new sensor under the OLED panel in the Samsung Galaxy S21 will be square, 8mm sides with 64 sq.mm, which is larger than the current 4x9mm sensors with 36 sq.mm sensors. This directly translates to a sensor that will be 77 percent larger. We just hope that these new sensors are also safe and reliable.
Source SamMobile
Via GSM Arena
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Pocketnow Daily: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G: More Than We Expected! (video)
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Apple’s previous-gen MacBook Air, M1 MacBook Pro and more on sale
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, iPad Pro, Apple Watch Series 6 and more on sale
As per usual, let’s kick today off with some M1 MacBook deals because why not? The latest M1 MacBook Pro is currently $50 off, that leaves the 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD model in Space Gray for $1249. Sadly we don’t have any deals for the Air at the moment but what we do have deals on is Samsung products! Believe it or not the company is making the trade-in deals even better, starting once again with the Z Fold 2 which is $925 and you get $120 in Samsung Credit for other purchases. You can get the Galaxy Note 20 line for as low as $225, and the S20 line for as low as $365. Those Note deals sound like if they’re probably planning something. Probably the craziest deal is the S20 FE, which goes for $115, you get the $120 in Samsung Credit and you also get a $30 eCertificate. Again all of these are trade-in deals and you need an eligible device. But alright, moving on, the Google Pixel 4 is $281 off, that leaves the entry level model for $518 shipped.
Salesforce acquires Slack for a cool $27.7 billion, calls it a match made in heaven
Sticking to the official news, let’s talk about Slack. Right about now I seriously wish I was a software developer. Last week some rumors sparked up, hinting that Salesforce was planning to buy the company. Well, they just made it official through a press release, Salesforce just acquired Slack for $27.7B and it will now be integrated into their Salesforce Cloud. Now, for those of you that use Slack that are probably wondering what’s going to happen to yours, current CEO Stewart Butterfield will continue to lead the company and the transaction is expected to conclude on the second fiscal quarter of 2022. Once this is complete, Slack will become a full operating unit of Salesforce, allowing them to offer a unified platform for connecting employees and partners to customers, as they will be “integrating slack to their workflow”. I just find it shocking that my least favorite way to communicate is worth so much, but yeah, I also wonder if you’ll still be able to use it once the takeover is completed.
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds appear in leaked renders
Let’s move on to Samsung and accessories, particularly with their upcoming Galaxy Buds Pro. We showed you how these were already certified by the FCC and that the “Pro” feature would be Active Noise Cancelling. Well, now we have some new renders from Evan Blass that show us both the design and the case. And, as the previous leaks claimed, they pretty much bring the same design as the Galaxy Buds+ but the case looks like the one on the Buds Live, if that makes sense. Speaking of this case, it looks like it will bring a 472 mAh battery but we still have no details on play-time or how many charges it actually provides. Again we should expect these with the Galaxy S21 Series and their main features will be Active Noise Cancellation, a better Ambient Mode and a richer listening experience. Of course we hope that Samsung adds other features along the way just to sweeten the pot, but I feel keeping the price aggressive will be the best strategy.
Apple to launch two MacBook Pro models with fresh design and mini LED display in 2021: Kuo
Moving on to Apple and their Apple Silicon and miniLED roadmaps, we have a new report from Ming Chi Kuo with new devices that we should expect. According to his latest research Note, Kuo reiterates that we should expect two new MacBook Pro models equipped with an all-new form factor design and they will launch in 2021. Now, he also mentions that we should expect a new and “affordable” MacBook Air in 2022. Of course, all of them will bring Apple Silicon chips and a miniLED display. Kuo also claims that Apple will be able to offset the increased costs of miniLEDs in the Macs, thanks to their Apple Silicon chips being significantly cheaper than Intel’s solutions. miniLED displays are also projected to see pretty high shipments with MacBooks being the main driver here, probably because the iPad is rumored to move on to OLED next year. Apparently MacBook shipments could grow by 100% with up to 35M units per year. If the M1 MacBooks are any indication, this is definitely something we’re looking forward to, and a logical reason why the 16-inch MacBook Pro didn’t see a refresh.
Samsung Galaxy S21+ appears online in a sleek mirror silver finish. Take a gander!
We’re already getting pretty close to the Galaxy S21 Series so, the leaks should just keep coming right? Well, about a month ago we got the first CAD renders from OnLeaks and now we get some from a different source. Now, these renders are for the Galaxy S21 Plus showing off the new design. We see the flat display with the punch hole at the front with the slimmer bezels of course. At the back you get to see the new triple camera array which reportedly consist of a 12MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra wide and a 64MP telephoto. Now, these renders show a silver variant which we hadn’t exactly seen before and they got a pretty glossy finish. To recap, we’re expecting the S21 Line in mid-to-late January, rocking the Snapdragon 888 or the latest Exynos, up to 16GB of RAM and all the bells and whistles you could expect. I guess the only question left is if you like the design, which I’m just liking for the fact that it’s unique.
Story of the day:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform details are here
And finally, the hottest news today have to do with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. First of all, thank you Qualcomm for sponsoring this video and let’s get right to it. Yesterday, the company pretty much teased the launch of the Snapdragon 888 5G at their Tech Summit. Well, today was day 2 and now we have everything you need to know about this chip. It is built on a 5nm process, implementing 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 for enhanced mobile experiences. It brings the 3rd Gen Snapdragon X60 5G Modem which enables all 5G flavors with speeds of up to 7.5Gbps. It supports Global 5G Multi-SIM for international roaming, and again it delivers industry leading power efficiency at 26 Tera Operations per second. The New Kryo 680 CPU delivers a 25% boost in CPU performance while the Adreno 660 GPU gives you 35% faster graphics when compared to the previous generation. The new Spectra 580 ISP is a Triple ISP which brings a new low light architecture for brighter pictures. It supports Rec. 2020 color gamut photo and video capture, up to 10-bit color depth for photo and video as well as HDR HEIF. You now have 8K video at 30fps and Slow-mo 720p video at a crazy 960 fps. It also supports Dolby Vision 4K video at 120fps and HDR 4K video with Portrait Mode which sounds pretty slick. Snapdragon Elite Gaming also brings way more responsiveness and game rendering at up to 30% thanks to Variable rate shading. Again, 14 OEMs were announced to use the platform with Xiaomi, OPPO and Realme being some the first.
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 gives a big push to camera prowess, and I’m excited about it
Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 888 – its latest flagship processor – a day ago, but didn’t share details about the performance gains and the new features it brings to the table. Today, the company finally has revealed the numbers, and they are a lot to process (ha!). To start, Snapdragon 888 makes the jump to the 5nm process, you get faster cores, a better graphics engine, an integrated 5G modem this time around, and a massive boost to imaging capabilities. We are going to focus on the last bit here i.e. camera enhancements. But before we do that, let’s take a quick glance at its key specifications:
- Based on the 5nm process.
- Qualcomm Kryo 680 CPU based on ARM Cortex-X1 core. It promises up to 25% performance boost and higher efficiency.
- Adreno 660 GPU that offers a 35% graphics performance uptick.
- 6th-Gen Qualcomm AI Engine with Hexagon 780 processor that offers 3x improvement in performance per watt output.
- Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System.
- Support for QHD+ panels at 144Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 5
- Second generation Qualcomm Sensing Hub
What’s the whole fuss about camera upgrades?
At the heart of all the imaging capability upgrades offered by the Snapdragon 888 SoC is the Qualcomm Spectra 580 image signal processor that now has triple 14-bit CV-ISPs. It takes over the reins from the Qualcomm Spectra 480 image signal processor on the Snapdragon 865 that had dual 14-bit CV ISPs. This new triple CV-ISP design drastically upgrades how Qualcomm’s latest SoC handles multi-camera systems on smartphones, especially triple rear camera setups.
The key advantage of this triple ISP design is achieving triple camera concurrency. As the name suggests, the chip can now handle three different data streams from three separate image sensors at the same time. So essentially, all three rear cameras (primary + ultra-wide + telephoto) cameras can record videos simultaneously. And that too, in 4K HDR format. We are unsure how OEMs will implement it, but one possibility is that users will be able capture a scene with three different lenses and then save (or share) the view they like best -the standard crop, a magnified view or a wider scene.
Simultaneous 4K HDR video capture by all three cameras
And just like videos, the triple ISPs will also let smartphone cameras shoot three images of 28MP size at the same time, one from each sensor. Another advantage of the triple ISP design is that switching between the primary, ultra-wide and telephoto lens will be almost instantaneous. In a dual ISP setup, the chip has to guess if users will now switch to the telephoto lens or they zoom out by reverting to the primary camera. The triple ISP system runs all three cameras simultaneously and speeds up the switching process.
Qualcomm also claims to have made some improvements at the architectural level for the new Spectra 580 ISP that can crunch an astonishing 2.7 Gigapixels of image data per second, compared to the 2 Gigapixel per second output of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC. Thanks to that data crunching enhancement, the chipset will allow smartphones to capture up to 120 shots of 12MP each in a second. A hundred and twenty photos of 12MP each with burst mode!
Qualcomm hasn’t provided further details how this will be executed, but the technique of stacking multiple frames to produce a final image that is brighter and richer in details is something many Android devices already do. But with more frames and extra computing power at their disposal, low-light photography will receive a major boost, theoretically speaking.
Burst capture at 120fps for 12MP stills is very promising
The chipmaker is also touting what it calls staggered HDR that will dramatically boost the dynamic range of images. Again, thanks to the triple ISP approach, three images with different exposure range and details in different regions of a scene are captured simultaneously and merged to create a single image with a much better dynamic range. The technique itself is not new, but the Snapdragon 888 adds 4K HDR with computational HDR capability to the mix.
Another major feature is that Snapdragon 888-powered smartphones can not only capture 4K videos at 120fps, but can also play them natively. This will put the high-refresh-rate 120Hz panels on smartphones to good use. However, it is unclear if the chip can also handle editing such videos, something that the likes of iPhone 12 Pro allow with Dolby Vision HDR videos. The upgraded camera capabilities also include 10-bit HDR HEIF photo capture and 4K HDR video capture with portrait mode. The latter is something I am particularly excited to test out on the 2021 Android flagships.
Capture and play 4K HDR videos natively
Qualcomm has deployed AI to handle autofocus, auto-exposure, and automatic white balance adjustment with its latest chip. The company is relying on new Saliency Auto Focus and Auto Exposure engines to make of this new approach that promises to enhance image accuracy. We are also assured of improved low-light performance, with Qualcomm claiming that the smartphones powered by its latest silicon can even capture images in dark surroundings with an illuminance as low as 0.1 lux.
It would be too early to pass a verdict without testing out the camera performance of Snapdragon 888-powered phones, since it also depends how well OEMs tune the camera sensors and their algorithms. But with Qualcomm providing a solid foundation with its latest silicon, I am optimistic. It is quite evident that Qualcomm has finally decided to create something that can truly take advantage of multi-camera setups on modern Android flagships.
Qualcomm stepped up, now it's up to OEMs
With enhanced processing firepower at disposal courtesy of the Snapdragon 888 and increased push to computational photography techniques, Qualcomm has done its part to take our smartphone camera experience to the next level. The first wave of Snapdragon 888 flagships will appear in the next couple of months, and I can’t wait to see if Android devices can finally play catch up to what Apple has been doing lately and usher us into a new era of what smartphone cameras can do.
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