Qualcomm's high performing chipsets, Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 808, supersede the company's Snapdragon 805 and Snapdragon 801 SoCs. Instead of featuring processors based on Qualcomm's Krait architecture, the company chose to use ARM's following processor duo:
- Cortex-A57
- Cortex-A53
Out of the two mobile chipsets, Snapdragon 810 is the better performing one, since it features an octa-core CPU with one quad-core belonging to Cortex-A57 while the other quad-core belongs to Cortex-A53. However, Cortex-A57 possesses a power hungry property, and while it might deliver more performance compared to Cortex-A53 (56 percent more overhead), its power consumption can spike up to 256 percent of Cortex-A53, making it an unsuitable processor for smartphones that feature a smaller battery pack.
Unlike Snapdragon 810, Snapdragon 808 features a hexa-core processor, with the absence of two Cortex-A57 cores. While performance will be lower compared to Snapdragon 810 in benchmarking applications, regular smartphone users will not be able to tell the difference between the two SoCs when conducting real-world tests, such as multitasking, video playback and gaming.
However, due to Snapdragon 810's overheating issues, the octa-core processor will start to throttle down its clock frequency in order to prevent irreparable damage to the smartphone. In simple terms, regardless of how powerful Qualcomm's flagship chipset may be, it will not be able to sustain its processing power for longer periods, which is an issue not yet experienced on Snapdragon 808. Additionally, devices running Snapdragon 808 will be able to deliver more battery thanks to a reduction in overall power consumption.
This was the paramount reason why LG chose to incorporate Snapdragon 808 in its flagship smartphone, G4. Moto X 2015, which is rumored to be announced in September, is also suspected of carrying the same SoC. However, Qualcomm's efforts in curbing the overheating issue of Snapdragon 810 has finally paid off when Xiaomi Mi Note Pro was reported of displaying better performance and thermal efficiency compared to HTC One M9 and LG Flex 2, despite featuring a denser resolution.
With the errors mitigated, Qualcomm hopes to revive the partnerships with smartphone companies who viewed Snapdragon 810 as a colossal failure.
