If you bought a flagship smartphone in 2017, the chances are it was powered by the Snapdragon 835. The Sony XZ Premium, OnePlus 5 and 5T, HTC U11 and the US version of the Samsung Galaxy S8 all had Qualcomm’s top-end smartphone processor inside.
Next year, the chip behind the biggest and best smartphones is going to be the Snapdragon 845, and with Qualcomm just releasing full details of its new chip, we’ve rounded up the platforms five best new features.
READ NEXT: The best upcoming smartphones of 2017-18 – we pick out next year's big players
1. Better camera quality
When a new phone is launched, most of the coverage of the camera focuses on the hardware: things like the resolution, aperture and pixel size all have a profound effect on image quality. Increasingly, though – as proved by the Google Pixel and Pixel 2 – the quality of the photographs and video you get from your phone is being influenced by the power of the processor behind it.
The Snapdragon 845 brings a number of improvements on the camera front, and most of this is due to an improved ISP (image signal processor) – the Spectra 280.
The chip supports faster, 60fps multi-frame noise reduction at resolutions up to 16 megapixels, which should mean next year’s phone camera’s will perform even better in low light.
There’s a new type of photo mode in the offing, too, called ImMotion. It’ll probably go by another name by the time it appears in a phone, but it looks intriguing allowing users to designate parts of still images to be captured as video.
Also on the cards is improved blurry background portrait photography without the need for a dual camera setup and more advanced facial recognition support.
Video features include the ability to shoot video compatible with the Ultra HD Premium standard at up to 60fps, and improved EIS (electronic image stablisation) for even smoother handheld video footage.
2. Faster performance
Qualcomm’s mobile chips typically receive a performance boost in each generation and the Snapdragon 845 is no different. The octa-core Kryo 385 inside the 845 delivers a speed bump of between 25% and 30% for the high power quad-core CPU, and a 15% boost for the “efficiency”.
In terms of clock speeds that means the 845 will run at up to 2.8GHz, up from the 835’s 2.45GHz.
There’s a new GPU inside the Snapdragon 845 as well, which will provide a similar level of performance improvement. The Adreno 630 is 30% faster according to Qualcomm.
3. Longer battery life
One thing the Snapdragon 835 delivered in spades was battery life and with the 845, Qualcomm is promising more power efficiency savings. It won’t be doing that by moving to a new manufacturing process - surprising as Samsung’s 8nm chip-making process is now reportedly ready for manufacture.
Instead, the 845’s better power efficiency is achieved through a series of design changes and a refined 10nm manufacturing process. The GPU’s greater power enables it to be 30% more power efficient than before, for instance, and there’s a new 3MB “system cache”, usable not only by the CPU but also other parts of the 845 such as the GPU, and this helps reduce memory power consumption.
4. Faster connectivity and better Bluetooth
The Snapdragon 835 was the first chip to introduce gigabit 4G to smartphones and the 845 ups the ante another notch, moving this time to a top speed of 1.2Gbits/sec.
Aside from that, the 845 makes better use of unlicensed spectrum which means its a little easier for network operators to reach gigabit speeds.
The improvements don’t just focus on cellular speed, though. The chip has “more robust” 802.11ac Wi-Fi that should mean phones will connect more quickly to nearby networks with less waiting around.
It also has support for Bluetooth 5, but with proprietary enhancements that allow for the broadcast of an audio signal to multiple devices simultaneously. That means you’ll be able to hook up your phone to a bunch of speakers for a boost in volume, or share your playlist with others wearing headphones nearby.
This enhancement also means that independently wireless earbuds such as the Bragi Dash Pro could, in future, benefit from a battery life boost.
5. Better security
As we rely more on our phones to do everything, from banking to booking holidays and paying for goods in shops, security is becoming increasingly important. And the last big new feature for the Snapdragon 845 is its Secure Processing unit (SPU).
This is a separate component within the 845 with its own processing core, memory and random number generator. The idea is that privacy-sensitive operations, such as fingerprint, iris or facial recognition can now be carried out entirely within the confines of the SPU, without that sensitive data having to be transferred in and out of less secure areas of the SoC.