According to a fairly reliable source, Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could be a lot more expensive.
In a post on Weibo, Digital Chat Station says that the price of Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will “definitely increase significantly” alongside the cost of the wafer used in production. While no means of measuring the change is cost is provided, saying that the change is “significant” certainly has implications.
While the cost of the chip used in a smartphone or device doesn’t always directly translate to the product’s retail cost, it can play a considerable role. For instance, it was claimed that Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was roughly 25% more expensive compared to its predecessor, but that price wasn’t felt everywhere. The Galaxy S24 Ultra saw a price increase, but the Galaxy S24 and S24+ did not. The OnePlus 12 also didn’t adjust its price.
Rumors, opinions, and price information of Snapdragon 8 series (835-8Gen3).
That’s to say that, at least for now, the alarm bells shouldn’t be ringing.
But it does make some sense that Qualcomm’s prices could shoot up this year. Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is likely to adopt a 3nm process at TSMC and is already confirmed to use a new Oryon CPU. That new CPU is also being used in Snapdragon X Elite which is beating Apple Silicon in some early tests.
Apple has officially released iOS 17.5 to the general public. The update brings a handful of new features and changes for iPhone users. Head below for everything we know right now.
iOS 17.5 is now available
iOS 17.5 is now available to the public. You can head to the Settings app on your device, then choose General, then Software Update to install the update.
What’s new in iOS 17.5?
While iOS 17.5 isn’t quite as big of an update as other iOS 17 updates, it still includes its fair share of new features and updates.
Web Distribution in the EU
Within the European Union, the latest iOS 17.5 update introduces the capability to install applications directly from a developer’s website. Apple unveiled this new “Web Distribution” feature last month, explaining that it allows developers to distribute their iOS apps straight from their own websites.
To utilize this functionality, developers must opt into the updated App Store business terms, which requires paying a Core Technology Fee of €0.50 for every first annual installation exceeding one million in the preceding 12 months.
Any application disseminated through the web will still need to adhere to Apple’s notarization guidelines. Apps can only be installed from a website domain that the developer has registered in App Store Connect. Apple will also provide a range of APIs for developers to integrate with system functionality.
New Quartiles game for Apple News+
In the Apple News app, Apple News+ subscribers in the United States and Canada will find a new “Quartiles” word game after updating to iOS 17.5. The game prompts players to select from a grid of tiles to form words.
Quartiles is the third game to come to Apple News+, following the addition of daily crossword and crossword mini-games that were added last year.
iOS 17.5 also adds Game Center integration to all three of the Apple News+ games. With this feature, you can now see leaderboards for each of the three games for Daily Solve Time and Daily Score stats.
Apple News offline
Also for Apple News+ subscribers, iOS 17.5 introduces a new “Offline Mode.” This feature “makes it easy to access the hundreds of magazines, newspapers, narrated articles, and more included in a News+ subscription — no matter where you are,” according to Apple.
Apple News+ subscribers can now enjoy Offline Mode on iPhone and iPad to automatically download Top Stories, Apple News Today audio briefings, full magazine issues and narrated articles from News+ publishers, and puzzles to access later, without Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. When the device is back online, downloaded content will automatically refresh, and downloads will be optimized to maximize space on the device.
Design changes
iOS 17.5 also includes a few small design changes that are worth pointing out:
The Podcasts widget has been updated to have a new dynamic color that changes based on the artwork of the podcast you’re currently playing.
In the Apple Books app, Apple has redesigned the “Reading Goal” icon in top navigation bar.
In the Settings app, there is a new glyph for the “Passkeys Access for Web Browsers” menu under “Privacy & Security.”
New Pride wallpaper
iOS 17.5 also includes a new Pride Collection of wallpapers for iPhone and iPad users, as is tradition. The new dynamic wallpapers come as part of Apple’s goal to “champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities.”
As explained by Apple, iOS 17.5 includes a new system centered around anti-stalking capabilities for accessories like AirTags. This development follows Apple’s announcement last year of a partnership with Google to collaborate on a new “industry specification to combat unwanted tracking.”
Strings added to the Find My app reveal that iOS will be able to identify tracking accessories, even those that are not Apple or Find My certified, and assist users in disabling them.
One of the new strings states, “This item lacks certification on the Apple Find My network. You have the option to disable this item and prevent it from sharing its location with the owner. To proceed, follow the instructions provided on a website by the manufacturer of this item.”
These changes come as Google started rolling out its new Find My Device network for Android on April 8.
New ‘Repair State’
Also in iOS 17.5, Apple has added a new “Repair State” feature to Find My. This feature lets users confirm with their Apple ID and password that they’re about to send their iPhone in for a repair. As a result, Apple technicians can confirm that the person owns the iPhone and then proceed with the repair without the need to turn off Stolen Device Protection and Find My.
Essentially, this ensures that users can still track their device using Find My while it’s being repaired. Previous, Apple required users to disabled Find My altogether.
iOS 17.5’s security fixes
Finally, in addition to all the new features and changes, iOS 17.5 also includes 15 notable security patches for iPhone users. Notably, none of the 15 vulnerabilities were reported as previously exploited.
You can find the full list of these changes in our dedicated coverage. Even if none of the new features in iOS 17.5 are tempting for you, we recommend updating as soon as possible for those security fixes.
Qualcomm is following last month’s big announcement with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 November 16,2023. The goal remains bringing more flagship features down the chip lineup.
The 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 has one Prime core (up to 2.63 GHz), three Performance cores (2.4 GHz), and four Efficiency (1.8 GHz). Compared to the 7 Gen 1, Qualcomm touts a near 15% improvement in performance (based on Geekbench 6.1 Single Thread) and an over 50% jump for the GPU (Aztec Ruins 1080p), while offering 20% power savings.
Meanwhile, the AI Engine offers 60% better AI performance per watt, with INT4 precession support new for the 7-series. Qualcomm is also highlighting improved AI-based face detection in regards to challenging scenes and extreme combinations, like glasses and low-light conditions.
Another new addition to the Snapdragon 7-series this generation is spatial audio with head tracking, as well as multi-device Snapdragon Seamless experiences.
On the camera front, Qualcomm explicitly references mentions the Google Ultra HDR image format on Android 14. There’s also continued support for capturing from three cameras simultaneously. An “AI Remosaic” feature lets you “eliminate grainy discoloration for higher-res results” that have more vivid colors
There’s the Snapdragon X63 5G modem for up to 5 Gbps downloads, as well as 5G Dual-SIM Dual-Active (DSDA) in 5G+5G or 5G+4G SIM card configurations. Qualcomm is also touting triple frequency location support for improved accuracy even with a lower-quality GNSS antenna.
Honor and Vivo plan to use the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, while the first commercial device is set to be announced this month.
Qualcomm is expanding its lineup for 2020-2021, bringing in newer SoCs that you can expect to see in your next smartphone. Back in May, Qualcomm launched the new Snapdragon 768G, bringing in improvements over the Snapdragon 765G. And earlier this month, the company launched the new Snapdragon 732G, which brings improvements over the Snapdragon 730G. Today, Qualcomm is announcing the new Snapdragon 750G as an interesting addition alongside these two new SoCs, providing OEMs and consumers with more options in the premium mid-end segment.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7-series mobile platforms have become a very popular choice in the market, with more than 275 designs announced or in development across this series. Of these, a good 140 designs incorporate 5G, and the continued focus forward on this makes sense for OEMs and network partners alike. What the Snapdragon 750G does is carry along the Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF system from the 765G, allowing wider consumer reach for a solution that offers support for mmWave and sub-6GHz frequencies, SA and NSA networks, TDD, FDD, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), global roaming and global multi-SIM.
The 8nm Snapdragon 750G (SM7225) features a 64-bit Octa-core Kryo 570 setup with the two performance cores clocked at a max clock speed of 2.2GHz and the 6 efficiency cores clocked at a max speed of 1.8GHz. By nature of Qualcomm’s Kryo nomenclature, this is a big step up from the Kryo 470 cores on the Snapdragon 732G and the Kryo 475 cores on the Snapdragon 768G, and just a step down from the Snapdragon 865’s Kryo 585 cores. The 2 performance cores are indeed ARM Cortex-A77 based and not the ARM Cortex-A76 based like the ones found in the Kryo 4-series, though the 6 efficiency cores are still ARM Cortex-A55 based. While the CPU clock speeds of the performance cores are not as high as they are in the flagship Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865 Plus, you should expect to get better CPU performance than you would from the Snapdragon 732G and even the higher-numbered Snapdragon 768G.
As far as specific performance improvements, Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 750G can deliver up to 20% improvement over the Snapdragon 730G. To better put this into context, the Snapdragon 765 barely offered CPU improvements over the Snapdragon 730; the “G” variants usually feature a higher clocked “Prime” core and GPU; and the 2020 SoC upgrades simply went up to bump the clock speeds on the Prime core and GPU further. So a 20% improvement over the Snapdragon 730G is actually exciting news, one that could possibly place the Snapdragon 750G as the SoC with a better CPU than the Snapdragon 768G.
The Adreno 619 GPU is claimed to enable up to 10% better graphics rendering compared to the Snapdragon 730G. In comparison, the Adreno 620 GPU on the Snapdragon 765G claimed to offer up to 20% better performance and efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 730G. We can thus conclude that the Snapdragon 750G is placed between the Snapdragon 732G and Snapdragon 768G in terms of performance.
The Snapdragon 750G also features select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, including Qualcomm’s Game Color Plus, Adreno Updateable GPU Drivers, and Adreno HDR Fast Blend. The 5th generation Qualcomm AI Engine, meanwhile, distributes AI workloads across the compute blocks and claims to offer up to 4 Trillion Operations per Second (TOPS) for up to 20% improvement over the Snapdragon 730G.
Qualcomm is also boasting the inclusion of its always-on Sensing Hub in the SoC, which features a low-power AI Engine that “enables AI-based echo cancellation and background noise suppression to provide improved voice-chat gaming experiences, uninterrupted voice communication, and support for always-on voice assistants.” This is part of a growing trend of AI-based noise cancellation features, with NVIDIA offering RTX Voice for its GPUs and Krisp offering its software solution to apps like Discord. Qualcomm’s AI-based noise suppression solution will be hardware accelerated on devices with the Snapdragon 750G, enabling faster processing and thus lower latency.
The Snapdragon 750G, supports Bluetooth 5.1 and is “Wi-Fi 6-ready” if paired with Qualcomm’s FastConnect 6200 mobile connectivity subsystem. The new Spectra 355L Image Signal Processor lacks hardware acceleration for computer vision tasks and can process slow-motion video only up to 720p@240fps, but you get up to 32+16 MP dual camera processing with Zero Shutter Lag. For the display, it supports up to FHD+ resolution at 120Hz refresh rate. You also get support for India’s NavIC GNSS with the new SoC. Lastly, the SoC supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ solution but not its latest Quick Charge 5.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G complete feature
Qualcomm AI Engine
Adreno 619 GPU
Qualcomm® Kryo™ 570 CPU
Hexagon 694 Processor
Hexagon Scalar Accelerator
Hexagon Vector eXtensions
Hexagon Tensor Accelerator
Qualcomm Sensing Hub
Ultra low power hub for audio, voice and sensors
Supports AI algorithms at low power
Support for fusing contextual data streams including sensors, audio and voice
Supports multiple voice assistants
Multi-mic far-field detection and echo cancellation
5G Modem-RF System
Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF System – Modem to antenna integrated system for 5G multimode
5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, FDD, TDD
GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC, and SBAS
Dual Frequency Support
Low Power Geofencing and Tracking, Sensor-assisted Navigation
Near Field Communications (NFC): Supported
General Specifications
Memory Speed: up to 2133 MHz, 12 GB RAM
Memory Type: 2 x 16-bit, LPDDR4x
Near Field Communications (NFC) support
DisplayPort over USB Type-C support
8nm Process Technology
Part Number: SM7255
The Snapdragon 750G is pin- and software-compatible with the Snapdragon 690. Commercial devices based on the Snapdragon 750G are expected to be commercially available by the end of 2020. Xiaomi is announcing that it will be the first OEM to deliver a smartphone with this new SoC, which is teased to be a new member of the Mi 10 series costing under €300.
G connectivity is finally seeing mainstream adoption in 2020 as more and more smartphones and mobile SoCs add support for the next generation of telecommunications technology. The push for 5G has been very widespread in recent months, although some key markets may not have consumer 5G ready until next year. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped chip makers from pushing the envelope forward with bringing 5G down to lower tiers. Now, Qualcomm has announced its plans to bring 5G to even wider segments of users, promising new Snapdragon 4-series chips with 5G support in early 2021.
Today’s announcement from Qualcomm is bereft of a fair few details. While we can expect the modem to be integrated like on Qualcomm’s current 7 and 6-series 5G chips, we don’t know the supported bands, the theoretical download and upload speeds, the sub-6GHz bandwidth, and whether or not the modem will support mmWave 5G and/or standalone (SA) 5G. There are also other specs and features to be aware of, such as whether or not the chipset supports Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), 5G dual SIM dual standby (DSDS), and Qualcomm’s proprietary 5G PowerSave, Smart Transmit, Wideband Envelope Tracking, and Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning technologies. Whatever they do announce, though, heralds hope for a wider proliferation of 5G. Qualcomm’s promise of 5G connectivity support on its upcoming Snapdragon 4-series chips will bring 5G support to budget and lower mid-range smartphones across the globe.
“Qualcomm continues to pave the way for 5G commercialization at scale, and the expansion of 5G into our Snapdragon 4-series is expected to address regions that currently have approximately 3.5 billion smartphone users combined. The Snapdragon 4-series 5G Mobile Platform is designed to exceed expectations for the mass-market segment by bringing an assortment of predominately high- and mid-tier features to a broader audience. It will deliver on the promise of making 5G accessible to all smartphone users.”
Smartphones with the 5G Snapdragon 4-series are expected to arrive from OPPO, Motorola, and Xiaomi, but we suspect many other OEMs to also jump on board sooner or later. The first batch of smartphones with the 5G Snapdragon 4-series is expected to arrive in Q1 2021.
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