Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite with custom Oryon CPU

Qualcomm has officially introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite, its next-generation mobile chipset with custom CPU core development, headlined by the custom Oryon CPU.

After years of relying on Arm’s Cortex CPU designs, Qualcomm has revived its custom CPU efforts with Oryon CPU. While the new CPU still uses Arm’s architecture, the ability to customise the design fully gives Qualcomm flexibility in optimising performance specifically for mobile applications.

One of the major changes in the Snapdragon 8 Elite is the simplified two-tier core arrangement, a departure from the traditional mix of big, medium, and small cores. The new setup features two high-performance Prime cores clocked at 4.32 GHz and six Performance cores, all dedicated to heavy multitasking and gaming, mirroring Apple’s approach.

Paired with a hefty 12 MB L2 cache, double that of its predecessor, the Oryon CPU promises up to 45% faster performance in single-core and multi-core tasks than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

“With leading CPU, GPU and NPU capabilities, the Snapdragon 8 Elite delivers dramatic performance enhancements and power efficiency,” claimed Qualcomm.

Incorporating a new data prefetcher and Qualcomm’s ‘Instant Wake’ technology suggests that Qualcomm is keen to maximise CPU efficiency and responsiveness, further driving home its goal of creating a powerhouse mobile chipset.

One of the most significant upgrades comes to mobile photography. Qualcomm’s new AI-powered Image Signal Processor (ISP) enables advanced features like Limitless Segmentation, which can analyse and optimise up to 250 different layers in a photo -from backgrounds to pets — ensuring each element is perfectly captured.

Moreover, the Snapdragon 8 Elite supports triple 48 MP cameras and can handle 30 fps 4K video recording from all three sensors. The ISP also supports zero shutter lag for capturing images with large 320 MP sensors.

A notable addition is Truepic with C2PA, which introduces cryptographic seals to authenticate photos and videos, ensuring content is genuine and not AI-generated. Another feature, Video Object Eraser, allows users to remove unwanted objects from videos directly on the device.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite has a revamped Adreno GPU architecture. The new GPU, likely part of the Adreno 8XX series, adopts a ‘GPU Slice’ architecture, allowing dynamic resource management and improved load balancing.

According to Qualcomm, Ray Tracing has also seen a 35% performance improvement, which, when combined with the 40% reduction in memory bandwidth requirements, makes gameplay smoother. The company also claims that the new Adreno GPU can add up to 2.5 hours of gaming time, but this will depend heavily on factors like battery size and the specific games being played.

While AI has been a central theme in recent chipset launches, Qualcomm has gone all-in with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The updated Hexagon NPU boasts a 45% improvement in AI performance and enhanced memory throughput, making AI-driven tasks faster and more power-efficient.

With eight Scalar processors and six Vector processors, Qualcomm’s AI engine is designed to tackle simple and complex machine learning tasks, from voice recognition to real-time editing.

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