Qualcomm details Snapdragon 855 w/ 45% performance improvement, 5G support, camera enhancements

After officially unveiling the Snapdragon 855 yesterday, Qualcomm today is fully detailing the specs for its next-generation chip specs for 2019 Android flagships. The processor focuses on adding 5G support to phones, as well as improved artificial intelligence and mixed reality experiences.

The Snapdragon 855 is built on a 7nm process with the Kyro 485 CPU delivering a 45% performance improvement over the 845. This octa-core 64-bit architecture is comprised of one prime core clocked up to 2.84GHz and three performance cores operating at up to 2.42GHz, as well as four efficiency cores clocked up to 1.80GHz.

Meanwhile, the all-important Adreno 640 GPU provides 20% faster graphics with Vulkan 1.1 API support, as well as OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 2.0 FP. HDR Playback Codec supports HDR10+, HDR10, and Dolby Vision for high-quality and battery efficient video watching. It can support a 4K HDR on-device display, as well as two external screens of equivalent resolution. There is also a hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder.

On the gaming front, the 855 allows for “cinematic color grading in true HDR,” while mixed reality experiences include volumetric VR and 8K 360 VR video playback.

On the AI front, a 4th-generation multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine and Hexagon 690 Processor allows for a 3x AI performance improvement compared to last year, which benefits Android’s Neural Network API. In practice, this can also help voice assistants by delivering better echo cancellation and noise suppression.

The advantages of computational photography got a big showcase with the Pixel 3 over the past few weeks. The 855 features what Qualcomm calls a Computer Vision Image Signal Processor (CV-ISP) with the Spectra 380 ISP.

It allows for 22MP 30FPS concurrent dual cameras and a 48MP at 30FPS single camera, with hardware-based depth sensing allowing video capture, object classification, and object segmentation in real-time at 4K HDR and 60FPS. In practice, this allows video capture with real-time object or background replacement.

On the video front, HDR10+ video capture saves more than 1 billion shades of color, while  720p slow motion video at 480FPS is possible. HEVC (H.265) video capture and HEIF photo capture works to reduce file sizes by 50%.

For connectivity, the 855 supports multi-gigabit 5G, but only the existing Snapdragon X24 LTE modem is built-in. The Snapdragon X50 modem supports 5G for both Sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequency bands, with the latter allowing for 20x faster average performance compared to today’s connectivity. The 855 also supports 802.11ay Wi-Fi that promises 10Gbps and wire-equivalent low latency.

The first commercial devices featuring the Snapdragon 855 will ship in the first half of 2019.

Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine

• Qualcomm Hexagon 690 Processor
• Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU
• Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU

Connectivity

• Snapdragon X24 LTE modem LTE Category 20
• Snapdragon X50 5G modem (for 5G devices)
• Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6-ready mobile platform: 802.11ax-ready, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g/n.
• Qualcomm 60 GHz Wi-Fi mobile platform: 802.11ay, 802.11ad
• Bluetooth Version: 5.0
• Bluetooth Speed: 2 Mbps
• High accuracy location with dual-frequency GNSS

Qualcomm Spectra 380 Image Signal Processor

• Dual 14-bit CV-ISPs; 22MP @30 fps concurrent dual cameras; 48MP @ 30 fps single camera
• Hardware CV functions including object detection & tracking (Histogram of Oriented Gradients, Harris Corner Detection, Normalized Cross Correlation, Linear classification and optical flow) and stereo depth processing
• Advanced HDR solution including improved zzHDR and 3-exposure Quad Color Filter Array (QCFA) HDR
• 4K60 HDR video capture (HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG) with Portrait Mode (bokeh), 10- bit color depth and Rec. 2020 color gamut
• Hardware-based Multi-Frame Noise Reduction (MFNR) for snapshot and Motion Compensated Temporal noise Filtering (MCTF) for video
• Hardware-based Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) solution within camera subsystem
• A new modular ISP design with more flexibility to tap in and out of the imaging pipeline
  both in the RAW and YUV pixel domains
• High frame rate capture for slow motion video (720p @ 480fps)
• HEIF photo capture, HEVC (H.265) video capture

Audio

• Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
• Qualcomm aptX support, including classic aptX, aptX HD and aptX adaptive
• Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo Plus

Qualcomm Adreno Visual Subsystem

• Adreno 640 GPU
• Vulkan 1.1 API support
• HDR gaming (10-bit color depth, rec 2020 color gamut)
• Physically Based Rendering
• API Support: OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1
• Maximum On-Device Display Support: Up to 4K HDR
• Maximum External Display Support: Up to two 4K HDR displays
• Hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder
• HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision
• Volumetric VR video playback
• 8K 360 VR video playback

Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU

• One prime core clock speed: Up to 2.84GHz
• Three performance cores clock speed: Up to 2.42GHz
• Four efficiency cores clock speed: Up to 1.80GHz
• Architecture: 64-bit

Process

• 7nm Process Technology Qualcomm Hexagon 690 Processor
• Secure Processing capability
• Quad threaded Scalar Core
• Four Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX)
• Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator
• Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant
• Qualcomm All-Ways Aware technology

Security

• Qualcomm Biometric Authentication Suite: Fingerprint, Qualcomm Iris Authentication, Voice, Face, Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit enabling mobile payments
• Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor

Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ Technology

Memory

• Memory Speed: 2133MHz
• Memory Type: 4x16bit, LPDDR4x