With Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3, AI Is Headed to More Affordable Phones (2024)

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, announced earlier this month, takes many of the AI components of the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and packages them in a lower-cost system on a chip (SoC) for phones in the $800 to $1,000 range.Now Qualcomm is pushing AI further down the pricing ladder with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC, a revved-up version of last year's 7 Gen 3.

The new processor offers a boost in speed, better efficiency, and the latest in connectivity; plus, AI features such ason-device generative AI, enhanced gaming, and improved artistic photography.

Enhanced Power

Like the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and 8s Gen 3, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 will run on the Kyro CPU using 64-bit architecture. The speeds on the single prime core have been bumped up from the 7 Gen 3's 2.63GHz to 2.80GHz. Where the 7 Gen 3 has three performance cores at 2.40GHz, the 7+ has four at 2.60GHz. Last, the 7 has four efficiency cores at 1.80GHz while the 7+ has three at 1.90GHz. This jump in clock speed and core rearrangement deliver a 15% improvement in CPU speed, a 45% improvement in GPU performance, and a 5% gain in efficiency across the system.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm didn't provide initial benchmark results for the new chip, so we’ll have to wait to test phones in person to see what type of real-world difference the upgrade makes.

Faster AI Calculations

The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is meant to help bring AI capabilities to phones that cost a bit less than those running the 8s Gen 3. The 7+ Gen 3 has the same Hexagon NPU and Adreno GPU found in 8s Gen 3, which means that the 7+ gets similar access to large language models (LLMs) such as Baichuan-7B, Llama 2, Gemini Nano, and Zhipu ChatGL. The chip supports an always-sensing camera, INT4 precision, and dual-mic NPUs for audio and other sensors.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The chip can run some of the more select gaming features found on the 8s Gen 3, including the Post Processing Accelerator and Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2, which help to enhance and upscale your games with respect to visual effects and battery drain. Unlike the 8s Gen 3, the 7+ does not offer real-time ray tracing. It can support up to 4K screens at 60Hz or Quad HD+ screens at 120Hz with 10-bit color, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10, and Dolby Vision.

The chip will support cameras with an 18-bit cognitive ISP for what Qualcomm calls "artistic capture." It can handle imaging sensors up to 200MP for sharper, clearer photos, as well as the ability to enhance up to 12 layers of your photos or videos in real-time for edits, a feature that’s also found on the 8s Gen 3. Other tools include Snapdragon Low Light Vision, multi-frame noise reduction, and AI-based face recognition. You won’t be able to capture 8K video with the 7+ chip and 4K video capture tops out at 60fps, but the chip supports pro sight video capture, Bokeh Engine 2 video capture, and video super resolution for advanced videographers.

On the connectivity front, the 7+ Gen 3 adopts Qualcomm's 7800 FastConnect system, which packages together a handful of radios such as 5.8Gbps Wi-Fi. The 7+ Gen 3 will bring Wi-Fi 7 to midrange phones as well as Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy Audio, Auracast, and a host of codecs including aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and aptX Voice. 5G is on board as well, with the Snapdragon X63 5G Modem-RF system with both mmWave and sub-6GHz. Other specs include support for LPDDR5x memory, UFS 4.0 storage, up to 24GB of RAM, triple-frequency GNSS for more accurate location, and enterprise level security.

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is set to launch on OnePlus devices in the next few months, with more manufacturers to follow later in the year.