It’s been an ambition for Qualcomm to power PCs for quite some time now
Over the past week, Qualcomm has launched a summit revealing their new marketing strategy as well as new products. On the first day of that summit, Qualcomm announced the mobile flagship chipset called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, as part of a revamped naming scheme to simplify their chipsets’ name. On the second day, the company has announced a chip intended for Chromebooks as well as entry-level computers called the Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3.
It is the successor to the Snapdragon 7C Gen 2, as stated in the name. This third-gen CPU is built on a 6nm process and the company claims that it has 30% better single-threaded CPU performance, 60% better multi-threaded CPU performance, and 70% better GPU performance in contrast to its predecessor
Like the Snapdragon 8G1, this chipset is also 5G-ready using a Snapdragon X53 modem that’s also available on some of Qualcomm’s midrange mobile CPUs. This offers a peak download speed of 3.7Gbps thanks to the FastConnect 6700 system. For Wi-Fi, it supports Wi-Fi 6 and 6E with theoretical peak speeds of 2.9Gbps.
Like mobile CPUs, this has a Camera ISP called Qualcomm Spectra that supports up to three cameras with resolutions up to 22MP. It also supports dual cameras with resolutions up to 36MP (or a combination of 36MP+22mp) as well as a single camera with resolutions up to 64MP. In addition to these resolutions, this ISP can also record in 4K HDR
It has an AI engine that enhances user experience. The AI engine has a score of 65 TOPS and also supports Qualcomm Voice Suite for AI-enhanced Echo-Cancellation and Noise Suppression (ECNS) that should deliver a clear audio experience
As it is intended for PCs, the CPU supports Microsoft’s PlayReady for video streaming services. It also supports Bluetooth 5.2, UFS 2.1, eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0, and PCIe NVM/e SSD storage options, and finally, LPDDR4x and LPDDR5 memory.
Source: Qualcomm