Qualcomm has surprised the world when it announced its 2022 flagship SoC with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 moniker. Of course, this has been speculated in the previous months ahead of the release. However, the actual reveal has started a new era for Snapdragon chips. Instead of the usual Snapdragon 800 series, the company has created a new standard. Therefore, its upcoming chips will be dubbed Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Gen 3, and so on. Now, it’s just a matter of time until this new nomenclature reaches other chipsets in the company’s portfolio. In fact, the Snapdragon 700 series is the next in line for a rebranding. The company will start with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 which will be revealed sometime this year. Today, the tipster Digital Chat Station has revealed some interesting details about an upcoming Snapdragon 7 series SoC.
Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 specifications
According to the popular Chinese leakster, an upcoming chip, presumably the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 will come with 4 x ARM Cortex-A710 CPU cores and 4 x ARM Cortex-A510 CPU cores. To those unaware, these core standards emerged with the new ARMv9 architecture. They are the replacements for the Cortex-A78 and the long-running A55 cores. In addition to this CPU architecture, the leakster also confirms the presence of an Adreno 662 GPU inside the new chipset. We assume it will be much more powerful than the Snapdragon 642L which is present on the Snapdragon 778G and 778G+.
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We assume that this upcoming chip will be made on a 4 nm manufacturing. At this point, TSMC’s node seems to be more plausible. After all, Qualcomm didn’t enjoy the results of its Samsung-made Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus is reportedly coming as the result of the TSMC manufacturing process. If the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 has a 4 nm architecture, we can see it as a small step below the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The major difference is that the flagship SD8 Gen 1 has a Cortex-X2 core for demanding tasks. There is still a chance of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 bearing a TSMC’s 5 nm manufacturing instead of Samsung’s 4 nm. Qualcomm’s order for 4 nm chips is probably prioritizing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus and the Gen 2.
Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 to be announced later this year
For now, there aren’t many details about the chipset, but we expect to hear more in the next quarters. After all, Qualcomm needs to bring more diversity to its chipset range. We won’t be surprised to see a major revamp with the announcements of Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and 4 Gen 1 as well. Time will tell.
The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 will be present on upcoming mid-range and premium mid-range smartphones, including some Xiaomi smartphones.
