The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Performance Preview: Sizing Up Cortex-X2
by Dr. Ian Cutress on December 14, 2021 8:00 AM ESTConclusionary Remarks: Arm v9 for Android
When we move through significant revisions of Arm’s architecture, up to v8 and now v9, it’s important to note that the new features defined in the ISA do not always fundamentally improve performance – it’s up to the microarchitecture teams to build the cores to the ISA specifications, and the implementation teams to enable the core in silicon with frequency and power efficiency. Accomplishing that requires a good process node, design technology co-optimization, and then partners that can execute by building the best devices for that processor.
Qualcomm’s target with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is very clearly the 2022 Android Flagship smartphones. New cores, new graphics, enhanced machine learning capabilities, a step function in camera processing power, an integrated X65 modem, all built on Samsung’s 4nm process node technology. The flagship Android space is an area in which Qualcomm has been comfortable for a number of years, however the increased thermals of last generation’s Snapdragon S888 gave a number of analysts in the space a bit of a squeaky bum moment.
It’s hard to tell immediately in our small test if that still remains the case. Samsung’s 4nm node has improvements beyond the previous generation 5nm design, however Qualcomm’s presentational numbers were above and beyond those that Samsung provided, perhaps indicating that additional improvements both in architecture and implementation have led to those performance numbers.
Our testing shows +19% floating point performance on the X2 core, which is almost the +20% that Qualcomm quotes, but only +8% in integer, which is often the most quoted. We’re seeing power efficiency improvements for sure on the X2 core, with an overall efficiency improvement of 17%, but peak power has also increased, in part because some of our tests make use of the additional cache in the system. Our machine learning tests are +75% over the previous generation, although not the 4x numbers that Qualcomm states – we need to do more work here on power efficiency testing however. On the gaming side, our 'first run' numbers showcase some explosive gains in GPU throughput.
Although we’ve only done a few tests here, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the elephant in the room: MediaTek. In the last month MediaTek announced a return to the high-end with a flagship processor of its own, using the same 1+3+4 configuration with slightly higher frequencies, more cache, and built on TSMC’s N4 process. Implementation here will be the key metric I feel, so how MediaTek has been able to optimize for TSMC N4 vs Qualcomm on Samsung 4nm is going to be analyzed. I should point out here that a processor is more than just the CPU cores, as we’ll see Adreno vs Mali on graphics, the different machine learning approaches, but also how the two companies approach 5G and connectivity, which has been one of Qualcomm’s most prominent strengths to date.
We look forward to testing the Qualcomm S8g1 in more detail in the New Year, as well as how many of the main smartphone OEMs choose Qualcomm for their flagship devices.
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tuxRoller - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Android let's you do this? With root, sure, but that's hardly a supported experience & certainly isn't a stable one unless you are willing to go without Google services.Although I still will not pay for an Apple device, Google has convinced me they aren't interested in making Android great for consumers. They can't even be trusted to reliably sync browser data & that is a f*|<ing trivial problem.
Dolda2000 - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Running Linux on desktop computers isn't exactly a "supported" configuration either. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be, and the same thing is generally true for Android phones as well (though not quite as true as it should be, to be sure).tuxRoller - Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - link
They aren't the same thing.For one, yes, Linux is a supported OS on certain, mostly enterprise, machines, though I do understand your point.
Second, phones don't yet have an equivalence to acpi & UEFI, so you're largely at the mercy of the OEM.
Am I missing something?
Fulljack - Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - link
nah, I'm using root and all my google services—even banking apps are fine. what are you talking about?Meteor2 - Friday, December 17, 2021 - link
Chrome syncs perfectly between Windows, iPadOS, and Android for me.TheinsanegamerN - Friday, December 17, 2021 - link
I can plug my android phone into any PC and browse the filesystem to my hearts content. I can upload my own music to any folder I wish, load ROMs, ece.Nicon0s - Saturday, December 18, 2021 - link
"Android let's you do this?"Yes it does.
Qasar - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
" As usual, it's far slower than iPhones. People are getting ripped off when they buy slower Android hardware instead of iPhones. "ill take the android phones over the iphone any day, im NOT paying for the apple tax, ( apple's products are just too over priced) and the fact, that you cant add storage to them via a micro SD card. so no thanks, owning anything made by apple, is more of a status symbol, then anything else now
Duncan Macdonald - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
That depends on what they use their phones for. For people who do not play demanding games on their phones Android phones are far better value for money, for people that do play demanding games then the higher performance from Apple may be worth the much higher cost.Reflex - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
The 6-10 years of support for iPhones more than mitigates what is at this point a very minor price difference outside of the very low end. iPhone SE is only $400 after all. Android phones in that price range are not great performers and have at best 2 years of support typically.Even a used iPhone will typically have years more support than a comparably cheap new Android device, and for a non-power user that's great. I'll likely never have to upgrade my aunt's iPhone 8, which I got for her a few years ago when WinPhone died off and which has years of support left.