Qualcomm today began building hype for its next high-end mobile processor.
Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 820 will come with an Adreno 530 graphics processing unit, which promises up to 40 percent better graphics performance and compute capabilities compared to the Adreno 430 found in the Snapdragon 810. The Adreno 530 also offers reduced power consumption compared to the Adreno 430.
The other major new Snapdragon 820 feature touched on today is the Qualcomm Spectra camera image signal processor (ISP). The Spectra, Qualcomm claims, will offer improved image quality thanks to its support for 14-bit sensors with a “wider range of colors and more natural skin tones.”
The Snapdragon 820 is expected to begin appearing in devices in the first half of 2016. The Snapdragon 810 before it caught a lot of flak for running hot, and while arguments are sure to be made about the validity of those claims, there’s no question that Qualcomm lost business due to Samsung’s decision to use its own Exynos processors in the Galaxy S6 and GS6 edge, a move that a Samsung executive said was made because his company wants to use “the best-quality components.” With the Snapdragon 820, you can bet that Qualcomm will be working hard to erase the memories of the 810 and to get Samsung back in the Snapdragon camp.