Another year, another flagship phone processor. Qualcomm just unveiled its 2021 flagship, the Snapdragon 888 at its annual summit. Here’s what we know so far and why the name stands out.
The Snapdragon 888 will be the 2021 successor to the Snapdragon 865. More details around the specs will be revealed during day 2 of the Qualcomm Summit, but we do know a few things so far.
The Snapdragon 888 will contain the third generation of Qualcomm’s X60 5G Modem-RF system. It will be compatible with mmWave and sub-6 5G spectrum, which is good news since Australia may get mmWave by the end of next year.
According to Qualcomm, it will also support 5G carrier aggregation, global multi-SIM, stand alone, non-stand alone, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing. It will reportedly also have improved always-on AI capable of 26 TOPS but with more energy efficiency.
Qualcomm is also reporting improvements to its Adreno GPU performance for gaming and Spectra performance for faster gigapixel speed for phone photography.
Which phone manufacturers will support Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Here are the manufacturers who we already know will support the Snapdragon 888:
- ASUS
- Black Shark
- Lenovo
- LG
- MEIZU
- Motorola
- Nubia
- realme
- OnePlus
- OPPO
- Sharp
- vivo
- Xiaomi
- ZTE.
What’s in a name?
“888 is regarded by the Chinese as a symbol of fortune and prosperity, which will also undoubtedly chime well with Qualcomm’s expectations of success for its newest premium platform.,” David McQueen, Research Director of ABI Research, said in a press release.
While it could perhaps be written off as a coincidence, all 14 of the manufacturers announced by Qualcomm today are companies based out of either mainland China or Taiwan.
Further to this, it seems like quite an on point choice considering the severe implications the U.S. trade ban on Huawei had on the brand.
Qualcomm weighed in on the speculation, offering a few reasons for the choice of name.
“8 has always been a special number for Snapdragon… The Snapdragon 8-series is comprised of our premium tier mobile platforms, which is where we debut our latest technology innovations that will power the next generation mobile experiences,” a Qualcomm spokesperson told TechCrunch.
“The number 8 is also a lucky number around the world. For some, it signifies infinity, success or inner wisdom, while for others it symbolizes luck. For example, in India the number 8 is known as Ashtha, Asta, or Ashta in Sanskrit and is the number of wealth and abundance. While in Chinese numerology 888 is a representation of triple luck.”
We’ll update you with more Snapdragon 888 news as its revealed this week.