Qualcomm’s New Cheaper Chip for Gaming and AI

Qualcomm is aiming its two new mobile processors, 6 Gen 1 and 4 Gen 1, directly at mid-range and budget phones, respectively.

Announced today, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor promises up to 35% better gaming performance and is the first Qualcomm chip to support 200MP still photography.

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 can handle 108MP snapshots, boost gaming performance by 10%, and provide days of battery life.

“Both Snapdragon 6 and Snapdragon 4 provide updates in their respective series to drive progress in capture, connectivity, entertainment and AI,” said Deepu Jon, senior director of product management at Qualcomm.

“These new mobile platforms are helping our customers deliver cutting-edge consumer experiences.”

Translation: Phones are constantly improving and companies need newer and better smartphone chips to make their new features work.

Smartphone technology that was used in the most expensive phones a few years ago is now making its way into the best mid-range phones and the best budget phones. 6 Gen 1, which joins the similarly oddly named 8 Gen 1 and 8+ Gen 1 naming convention, allows phones that use it to take advantage of improved HDR support.

At the very least, the new names mean Qualcomm could drop the “5G” tag – now 5G is the bet for smartphone chips.

6 Gen 1 has 7^th a generation of Qualcomm’s AI engine that is claimed to improve AI performance three times over the old Snapdragon 695 5G. This can be used by Android manufacturers, for example, to control smart software features in the camera app or to track activity.

The chip will also help the gaming experience maintain at least 60fps and handle all the other hidden things that people expect from their phones on a daily basis without realizing it, such as connecting to the latest WiFi 6E networking standard – the first time a Snapdragon 6-series supports it.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 is Qualcomm’s first 6nm 4-series chip, which the company says helps improve all-round performance and battery life. This should improve CPU performance by 15% and GPU by 10% over the Snapdragon 480 5G, although of course these numbers will depend on the rest of the hardware used on specific phones.

We’re hoping the processor should make using voice assistants like Google Assistants a bit faster, as those capabilities can often lag behind cheaper phones.

Like the 6 Gen 1, the 4 Gen 1 supports 5G connectivity, which is essential as the world’s latest wireless networking standards become more widely adopted.

Qualcomm has confirmed that Motorola and Vivo, with their iQoo sub-brand, will use one or both of the chips in future phones. iQoo Z6 Lite will be one of the first phones with 4 Gen 1 processor.

6 Gen 1 devices are expected to go on sale in the first quarter of 2023, and 4 Gen 1 devices are expected to ship early in the third quarter of this year.