Qualcomm Set to Release Highly Anticipated Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Chip with Impressive Features

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors have achieved great success, and successor chips are expected to be released in quick succession. The third-generation Snapdragon 8 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) is expected to be released as early as the third quarter of this year.

According to previous leaks, the internal code name for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is SM8650, which will be manufactured using TSMC's N4P process technology, similar to MediaTek's Tianji 9300 chip. The CPU part adopts a four-group eight-core design with a 1+2+3+2 configuration, a large Gold+ core, two large Titanium cores, three medium-sized Gold cores, and four small Silver cores. In addition, it will be the first time that Qualcomm uses a pure 64-bit architecture for the chip. The GPU will be upgraded to the Adreno 750.

The latest news shows that the leading core architecture for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip will be Cortex-X4, with a frequency of up to 3.4GHz, and there are rumors that it could be as high as 3.7GHz. It may be another Samsung exclusive version, designed for use in the Galaxy S24 series. The specific architecture of the large, medium, and small cores is not yet known, but they are reportedly from the A7xx, A7xx, and A5xx series, respectively.

Meanwhile, the frequency of the Adobe 750 GPU has been confirmed to be 900MHz, which is also impressive. It seems that Qualcomm has great confidence in its own chip architecture design and in TSMC's manufacturing process.

Looking ahead, the fourth-generation Snapdragon 8 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 4) has already been confirmed to use TSMC's N3E process technology, which is the second-generation enhanced version of the 3nm process. This year, Apple's A17 chip will be the first to adopt TSMC's N3 process technology, which is said to be exclusive to Apple for now. AMD Zen5 processors and NVIDIA Blackwell chips will also use the TSMC 3nm process, while Samsung's Exynos 2500 chip will use their own second-generation 3nm GAA process technology, which integrates the AMD RDNA3 GPU architecture.

Understanding the details of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip can help distributors make informed decisions about which products to stock and promote to customers who require high-end processing power for their devices. Additionally, staying informed about upcoming releases like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip and other similar products from competitors can give distributors a competitive edge in the market.