One of the many details that users look for in a smartphone is the power of its processor, and for many Android handsets, a Snapdragon chipset means that a smartphone will have good performance and better specs. However, parent company Qualcomm has had problems with its most recent processor, the 810 series. Owners of Android phones using the Snapdragon 810 chipset have reported overheating problems with their devices. Some handset manufacturers have also foregone using the chipset on their products, such as Samsung deciding to install its homegrown Exynos processors on its Galaxy S6 flagships.
Qualcomm said that the company is already developing its next-in-line processors. Announced first at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early this year, the Snapdragon 820 is expected to be a much-improved version of a Snapdragon chipset.
The 820 series is expected to be made using the same 14nm FinFET technology used for current Exynos and the upcoming iPhone 6s processors. To improve upon its architecture, the upcoming Snapdragon will have a 64-bit quadcore CPU, instead of the eight cores for the 810 series. The 820 will also be one of the very first Qualcomm chipsets to use the next-gen Adreno 5- series GPUs.
Improving on the architecture, it is expected that when the Snapdragon 820 is released, it will offer much-improved features such as up to 35 percent better performance and 30 percent better power efficiency than its previous iteration.
In addition, Qualcomm also says that partnering the new Snapdragon 820 processors with new Adreno 5XX-series GPUs means that devices that will use the new chipsets will also offer much-improved image capture features. According to Tim Leland, vice president of product management for Qualcomm, there will be substantial changes.
He said, "We're significantly enhancing the visual processing capabilities of Snapdragon to support next-generation user experiences related to computational photography, computer vision, virtual reality and photo-realistic graphics on mobile devices, all while maximizing battery life."
