Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 dual versions are released! This time it will completely over

This year, Qualcomm has undoubtedly taken the spotlight, with the third-generation Snapdragon 8 dominating the flagship market and then re-entering the desktop market with a new architecture, creating a new XElite laptop track in collaboration with numerous partners.

Of course, users of Lei Technology are still interested in news about the next generation of Snapdragon's flagship mobile platform, as the rumored Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to use TSMC's 3nm process technology, coupled with Qualcomm's new self-developed Oryon architecture, making its performance highly anticipated. In the latest leaked presentation slides, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might come in two versions: SM8750 and SM8750P, where the "P" suffix may stand for "Performance," indicating a performance edition.

In the past few generations of Snapdragon flagship chips, Qualcomm has rarely differentiated them in terms of versions. The only exception might be the "Snapdragon For Galaxy" co-customized with Samsung, but it only differs in clock frequency from the standard version, and the public release time is also much later than that of the standard version.

With the dual advantages of "3nm process" and "Oryon architecture," Qualcomm has surprisingly adopted a "dual-version" strategy. What secrets lie behind this move?

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Has Qualcomm's flagship chip also introduced "small and large cup" options?In leaked diagrams, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is divided into two models, SM8750 and SM8750P, with the former being the standard version and the latter the performance version. The benchmark scores published earlier by GeekBench 6 show that the SM8750 has an octa-core architecture, but it is not yet certain whether it is a dual Oryon + public version of Arm or an octa-core fully self-developed Oryon.

However, unlike Qualcomm's high-performance strategy on XElite, the mobile platform must consider the overall power consumption balance, so the all-big-core solution may not appear on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Public information indicates that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has improved single-core and multi-core performance by 35% and 30% respectively compared to its predecessor, which is in line with expectations.

The GPU on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has also finally been upgraded from the Adreno 7 series to the Adreno 8 series, and according to official statements, the graphics performance will see a leapfrog upgrade.

At present, there is no significant performance distinction between SM8750 and SM8750P, which is completely different from the previous XElite series chips. It is reasonable to speculate that this should be a model following the previous cooperation with Samsung on the 'Snapdragon For Galaxy' chips, only this time the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will release the public cooperation version earlier. In addition, there have been earlier reports that Samsung will relaunch the Exynos flagship chip in the Galaxy S25 series; if the news is true, then it seems there is no need for an exclusive agreement between Qualcomm and Samsung.

In fact, creating multiple versions for flagship chips has always been something Qualcomm is good at. As early as the Snapdragon S2 era, Qualcomm divided this series into MSM7230/7630, APQ8055, MSM8255/8655, a total of five different versions. By the time of the Snapdragon S4 era, it was directly divided into Play, Plus, Pro, and Prime four sub-series, each containing multiple different chip versions.Until 2013, Qualcomm's mobile domain officially categorized its differently positioned product lines into their respective series, namely the entry-level Snapdragon 200, the mid-to-low-end Snapdragon 400, the mid-to-high-end Snapdragon 600, and the flagship Snapdragon 800. Such naming conventions were not re-established until the last two years, and the nomenclature was simplified to 2/4/6/7/8, for instance, the fourth-generation Snapdragon 8 chip, which is the upcoming flagship chip to be released at the end of October.

Simplifying the naming actually makes it easier for consumers to understand the performance and user experience each represents, and it also helps manufacturers refine their product lines for better promotional effects. However, some users believe that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, as Qualcomm's first flagship chip to adopt the self-developed Oryon architecture, may have issues with power efficiency control during the testing phase, which is why both a standard version and a performance version are prepared.

But Xiao Lei believes that such a claim is not very credible, after all, the performance of Snapdragon XElite is evident to all, whether it's extreme performance release or power consumption control, it belongs to the first tier of current Arm chips, and for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 to 'fail', the difficulty is really not small.

The competition for flagship chips is intensifying, and Qualcomm Snapdragon needs to consolidate its advantages.

Qualcomm holds an absolute advantage in the current mobile semiconductor field, but these advantages are almost reflected in the high-end and flagship markets. Data from market research firm Counterpoint shows that Qualcomm held a 23% share in the smartphone application processor market in the third quarter of 2023. However, MediaTek, relying on its advantages in entry-level and mid-range chips, is also continuously expanding its market share, with market reports showing it reached a 40% market share in 2023, ranking first.In this way, all that Qualcomm needs to do is to continue leveraging its advantages at the flagship level and create flagship chips that better meet consumer demands.

This year, Qualcomm launched two mobile platforms for the high-end/flagship market: the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 and the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3. Both chips feature a Cortex-X4 prime core + A720 performance core + A520 efficiency core, offering exceptional value for money. However, despite the similar performance, the two chips have had very different fates: information from Weibo user @SmartChipInsider reveals that models equipped with the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 have significantly outperformed those with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 in sales. This may be because Qualcomm positions the 8-series chips as flagships, and consumers also recognize the performance of flagship chips.

The example of the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 and 7+ Gen 3 also proves that the market has a deeper understanding of the flagship positioning of the Snapdragon 8 series. At the same time, consumers are more eager for models positioned for performance/gaming to have higher-level performance. For instance, since the launch of the overclocked "Leading Edition" of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, this version, as the public edition "Snapdragon For Galaxy" chip, has always been equipped in flagship models that emphasize performance, such as Red Magic and Nubia.

It is reasonable to predict that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will have two versions: a standard version and a performance version. In addition to serving the Samsung Galaxy S series as in previous years, it will also provide more powerful peak performance to models that pursue performance, thereby giving them stronger gaming performance. This will enable Qualcomm to gain a higher market share in the flagship market.

Furthermore, the test version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has a prime core clock frequency as high as 4.0GHz, which is a relatively high-power consumption limit frequency. Faced with the first batch of flagship models at the end of 2024 that are starting to choose small-screen solutions, such a high frequency may bring greater endurance pressure. Therefore, there are rumors outside that the standard and Pro models of the Xiaomi 15 series will both debut with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 standard version, rather than the full-power performance version.Overall, the smartphone chip market has always been a battle between Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Apple. With the return of Huawei's Kirin, the market direction has once again become unpredictable:

From a product perspective, MediaTek has almost captured the majority of the market share for entry-level models, while in the flagship market, Qualcomm and Apple are evenly matched. However, the A17 Pro's first use of the 3nm process technology 'flop' has led many Apple fans to switch to Android; Huawei's Kirin chips currently do not have a high shipment volume, but with just the Mate 60 series and Pura 70 series, they have already shown their scale, and they will surely challenge the flagship market in the future.

Therefore, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 can be said to be Qualcomm's most critical product in a phase, maintaining a leading position in fierce competition.

In conclusion, looking back at this generation of Snapdragon 8 flagship chips, they have won excellent market reputation with outstanding power consumption control and performance release. At the same time, Apple's mishap with the A17 Pro has also driven the defection of Apple fans. However, MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 also performed well, gaining a group of loyal fans with its all-big-core design.In the second half of the flagship chip battle, Apple has delivered the Apple M4 this year, utilizing an improved 3nm process, and has preemptively announced that the A18 will not repeat past mistakes; MediaTek continues with the public architecture + all big cores approach, aggressively stacking performance. Qualcomm's next move, on the other hand, is the most intriguing among the three, as no one knows how the combination of a 3nm process and the Oryon custom architecture will perform.

However, Qualcomm has essentially confirmed that it will hold the Snapdragon Summit at the end of October (a preview: Thunder Technology will send its senior editor "A Bright Day" to Hawaii to track and report on this top event in the chip industry), and Xiaomi's 15 series, which will be the first in China to debut the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, will also make its appearance in November. At that time, we will be able to see if this flagship chip, which holds epoch-making significance, can lead the pack and stabilize the mobile semiconductor market. Thunder Technology will closely monitor every move of Snapdragon and will also conduct a hands-on review as soon as the first batch of new devices with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 hits the market. Stay tuned.