Qualcomm recently announced its latest and fastest mobile processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and the first benchmarks reveal a mixed bag of both remarkable and disappointing results. Each new generation of technology tends to be smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient, setting very demanding expectations for chip developers and smartphone manufacturers.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor is undoubtedly better than the previous generation’s Snapdragon 888. The technology is built on a 4-nanometer process. Its transistors are packed more densely, reducing the amount of power needed and shortening the path that electrons take when endlessly zipping around through logic circuits. With an advanced 18-bit image signal processor, it can handle more significant data streams for photo and video processing. Clock speeds have increased slightly as well, allowing more instructions to be processed each second.
Despite Qualcomm’s significant upgrades to several aspects of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s processor design, its CPU performance only shows moderate improvements in early benchmarks. NotebookCheck got some hands-on time with a Qualcomm reference design powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, allowing some testing using industry-standard benchmarks. Unfortunately, while graphics performance was formidable, Geekbench scores were disappointing, barely outpacing the Snapdragon 888.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Benchmark Scores
Early benchmarks with Qualcomm’s reference design yielded Geekbench scores of 1,237 for one core and 3,839 for multi-core. These are not bad scores. However, last year’s Snapdragon 888 in a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra scored 1,106 and 3,583, respectively, placing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 ahead by 12-percent in single-core and 7-percent for multi-core. This is based on Qualcomm’s reference design, presumably offering a best-case scenario for testing, so this modest improvement is disheartening.
The CPU speed is essential. However, graphics processing has a significant impact as well, and that is where Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 shines. Surpassing the previous generation Snapdragon 888 in nearly every one of a large number of graphics benchmarks, Qualcomm’s newest chip even traded blows with Apple’s A15 processor, winning on most graphics tests. While Qualcomm’s CPU improvements aren’t dramatic, the manufacturer’s estimates of 30-percent better energy efficiency and quite impressive graphics performance make this an exciting new chip, pushing Android advances higher than ever before.
