Snapdragon 855 released: First commercial 5G platform with enhanced AI performance

5G will arrive in the first half of 2019

Qualcomm believes that the 5G is one of the most important research directions in the industry. In the next few months, that is, in the first half of 2019, 5G flagship smartphones will be on the market. Next, automobiles and other electronic products will be connected to the 5G network one after another. Qualcomm now has a 5G network reference design, using AT&T and Verizon networks.

Unlike previous mobile networks, which were only the first to spread in the United States, 5G will be launched globally, including Europe, Asia, North America and so on. In particular, Qualcomm said that the Chinese market will grow very fast in 5G. For operators to vigorously promote 5G, it is necessary to reduce the number of spectrum of 4G network.

In order to adapt to 5G network, technological innovation of some peripheral products is indispensable, such as the introduction of notebook products with Snapdragon processors. Qualcomm believes that in the transformation of wireless technology, the equipment will change constantly. Looking back on 2016, Qualcomm launched its first X50 5G chip, and by 2018, there are now some kinds of products, such as Moto Z3 5G Mods accessories.

Where is the challenge of 5G? Qualcomm revealed that 5G needs to provide thousands of gigabytes of network support, and how to deploy ecosystems is also one of the challenges. The spectrum below 6GHz will be redefined in the future. Because millimeter wave has higher bandwidth, network configuration also needs to be reconfigured and built, such as enterprise network, small base station and so on. More and more band combinations will appear in the future.

In addition, the terminal also has challenges, such as whether the battery life of the product can keep up with 5G network, but also includes game performance, edge computing ability, coverage of different networks, temperature control, antenna design and delay reduction. Then Qualcomm will increase its innovation in radio frequency and develop exclusive modules.

Snapdragon 855 adopts 7nm process, the AI performance is improved by three times

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, mobile processors increasingly rely on independent neural processing units to complete the algorithm tasks. One of the core upgrades of MY855 processor is the enhancement of AI architecture. Qualcomm said that the 4th generation AI engine was built into the MYL 855, and its performance was three times higher than that of the MYL 845.

Snapdragon 855 has become the third mobile chip in the market using 7Nm process technology, and supports 5G network. It is the first commercial 5G platform. In terms of specifications, Snapdragon 855 uses a 1+3+4 three-cluster 8-core architecture: a high performance core (Cortex-A76) with a main frequency of 2.84 GHz, three core (Cortex-A76) with a main frequency of 2.42 GHz, and four energy-saving cores (Cortex-A55) with a main frequency of 1.78 GHz. For GPU, Snapdragon 855 carries Adreno 640, which improves graphics performance by 20% compared with Adreno 630.

When it comes to photo taking, snapdragon 855's ISP can improve lens recognition, which can improve photo taking. Snapdragon 855 will also support 3D acoustic sensors, and more fingerprinting devices will be available in the first half of 2019. Qualcomm snapdragon 855 also supports Elite Gaming Mode, which further improves Gaming performance when large games are launched on android devices.

More detailed technical specifications of Snapdragon 855 will be introduced by Qualcomm at the next day's summit.

The first version of Snapdragon 855 is still in suspense.

With so many technical parameters mentioned, it may be more interesting for most consumers to know which mobile phone manufacturer will get the first chance. According to past experience, Samsung Galaxy S10 should be the most likely product, after all, Qualcomm and Samsung have been close partners.

At the conference, Qualcomm introduced its close partners, including Samsung, Xiaomi, OV, Asus, Google, HTC, LG, HMD, Motorola, OnePlus, Sony and ZTE. All of the above manufacturers are the first terminal equipment that are likely to launch the Snapdragon 855 processor.