Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC is meant for budget flagships

[DragonSlayer101]

What just happened? Qualcomm has announced a new smartphone chipset aimed at premium devices offering flagship-level features and performance at a relatively affordable price. Called the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, the new chipset debuts five months after the company unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC that powers the vast majority of flagship Android smartphones released so far this year, including the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (US version) and the OnePlus 12.

The 8s Gen 3 is a slightly trimmed down version of the 8 Gen 3, and recycles many of the same features that made the latter such a desirable processor. For starters, it is based on the same TSMC 4nm node as the flagship, and includes on-device generative AI processing, advanced camera processing, the latest connectivity options, and lossless high-definition sound.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has an octa-core CPU in a 1+4+3 configuration, featuring one Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at 3GHz, four Cortex-A720 high-performance cores clocked at up to 2.8GHz, and three Cortex-A520 efficiency cores clocked at 2GHz. For those who are keeping score, that's one less high-performance core than the CPU found in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which has a 1+5+2 setup. The max clock speeds of the prime and high-performance cores in the new chipset are also slightly lower compared to those of the flagship chipset.

Qualcomm did not reveal the identity of the GPU in the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, but said it supports real-time hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The GPU also supports Qualcomm's Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, Adreno Frame Motion Engine, and 10-bit HDR gaming, among other features. As for the modem, Qualcomm is using the older Snapdragon X70 instead of the latest Snapdragon X75 found in the 8 Gen 3.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 supports a large number of AI models, including popular LLMs like Baichuan-7B, Llama 2, Gemini Nano and Zhipu ChatGLM. The company believes the on-device generative AI and advanced photography features in the 8s Gen 3 will "enhance user experiences (and foster) creativity and productivity" for users.

The new chipset is expected to power a large number of premium smartphones this year. According to Qualcomm, some of the OEMs that will use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in their smartphones include Xiaomi, Honor, iQOO, realme, and Redmi. It is worth noting that Redmi is a sub-brand of Xiaomi, while iQOO and Realme are both part of the BBK Electronics umbrella. Honor was once part of the Huawei empire, but is now said to operate as a separate company.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102330-qualcomm-new-snapdragon-8s-gen-3-soc-meant.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Anandtech did a deeper write up, and based on their findings the GPU in this chip will be significantly cut back, as will features like slo mo recording.

 

[VariableSpike]

Anandtech did a deeper write up, and based on their findings the GPU in this chip will be significantly cut back, as will features like slo mo recording.

So its a "flagship" chip, apart from not really, not like anyone needs ott performance, but missing features like slow mo video and so on will hurt (at least for "normal" markets, I have no idea what phone usage is like in China)

 

[Theinsanegamer]

So its a "flagship" chip, apart from not really, not like anyone needs ott performance, but missing features like slow mo video and so on will hurt (at least for "normal" markets, I have no idea what phone usage is like in China)

It's not a BAD chip, per se, but probably should be a 700 series and not a 800 series.
From Anandtech:

"The video recording and decoding capabilities of the 8sG3 are a distinct downgrade from the other Snapdragon 8 SoCs, however. Qualcomm has retained their trio of 18-bit Spectra ISPs – so the SoC can support up to 3 cameras – but all 8K support has been excised entirely. Instead, the 8sG3 can only record video at up to 4K, and even then only at 60fps, half the framerate of the 8G3/8G2. Slow-mo video capture has also been altered, as well; Qualcomm lists 1080p240 for this mode rather than 720p960. The higher resolution will no doubt be appreciated, but less so if this means it’s not possible to record above 240fps.

The lack of 8K video support also applies to the SoC’s video decode block, which can only decode videos up to 4K in resolution. Qualcomm has otherwise kept all of the underlying features of the video decode block at parity, however, so the 8sG3 gets support for AV1 decoding, along with Dolby Vision HDR."

There's more, like how it has 4 A720 cores instead of 5, or slower memory speed support VS the 8g3.

 

[VariableSpike]

It's not a BAD chip, per se, but probably should be a 700 series and not a 800 series.
From Anandtech:

"The video recording and decoding capabilities of the 8sG3 are a distinct downgrade from the other Snapdragon 8 SoCs, however. Qualcomm has retained their trio of 18-bit Spectra ISPs – so the SoC can support up to 3 cameras – but all 8K support has been excised entirely. Instead, the 8sG3 can only record video at up to 4K, and even then only at 60fps, half the framerate of the 8G3/8G2. Slow-mo video capture has also been altered, as well; Qualcomm lists 1080p240 for this mode rather than 720p960. The higher resolution will no doubt be appreciated, but less so if this means it’s not possible to record above 240fps.

The lack of 8K video support also applies to the SoC’s video decode block, which can only decode videos up to 4K in resolution. Qualcomm has otherwise kept all of the underlying features of the video decode block at parity, however, so the 8sG3 gets support for AV1 decoding, along with Dolby Vision HDR."

There's more, like how it has 4 A720 cores instead of 5, or slower memory speed support VS the 8g3.

Yeah definitely seems like it would have been a top 700 chip, but someone at qualcomm decided to put the spin on it that all the Chinese manufacturers want to use it, which I'm not sure about, they've usually only used the top chips, or straightaway started switching to stuff like the mediatek's

 

[daffy duck]

Why not just make the SD 7 gen 3 a bit more pwerful than gimping the 8 gen 3 so much. I'd still rather have the 7 Gen 3 any day of the week over the severely throttling POS 8 Gen 3. Might find 8s does better in sustained workloads than the 8.

 

[Fuzzy Dunalap]

Why not just make the SD 7 gen 3 a bit more pwerful than gimping the 8 gen 3 so much. I'd still rather have the 7 Gen 3 any day of the week over the severely throttling POS 8 Gen 3. Might find 8s does better in sustained workloads than the 8.

I have that chip in my chromebook. No throttling whatsoever, if anything impressed at how long it keeps the the cpu maxed when needed., damn shame of hear of the same in the 8 Gen 3.

 

[daffy duck]

I have that chip in my chromebook. No throttling whatsoever, if anything impressed at how long it keeps the the cpu maxed when needed., damn shame of hear of the same in the 8 Gen 3.

Yes SD 8 Gen 3 is so bad, Exynos 2400 throttles far less. SD 8 Gen 3 has 66% throttling Exynos about 40%. This is a return to the bad old SD810/815 days IIRC which was an overheating POS and a major embarrassment for Qualcomm.