Qualcomm says that 2019 will be all about 5G and most flagship or premium Android smartphones will be powered by Snapdragon 855. More details about the Snapdragon 855, which is likely to be 2X faster than Snapdragon 845, will be revealed soon.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Samsung will be the first OEM to launch a commercial 5G phone in 2019.
- Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 855 will improve the overall performance by up to three times.
- Snapdragon 855 elite gaming feature will enable users to have a much smoother gaming experience than ever before.
It’s the Snapdragon 855, and not Snapdragon 8150. Qualcomm at its third annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in Maui, Hawaii announced the Snapdragon 855, the chipset that the company said would power most of the top Android phones in 2019. Apart from bringing a host of new features and more performance -- we hear of 2X performance compared to the snapdragon 845 -- the Snapdragon 855 also comes with the X50 modem that will add support for 5G in the phones using it.
The 5G is the theme of the Snapdragon Summit this time that is probably the reason why Samsung together with Verizon announced a strategic partnership to bring the first commercial 5G phone in the first half of 2019 at the event. For now, key details of the Snapdragon 855 have not been announced. That will happen on the Day Two of the event because the first day was reserved for the 5G and Qualcomm's show of strength in which it showcased that almost all big smartphone makers in the world with exception of Apple and Huawei, were working with it to bring to the market phones powered by the Snapdragon 855.
But Qualcomm did give a brief glimpse into the Snapdragon 855. The company says that its next flagship chipset focuses on improving AI (artificial intelligence) performance with the 4th generation AI experience. Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 855 will improve the overall performance of a smartphone by almost 3X. Additionally, with the Snapdragon 855, Qualcomm is aiming to deliver better photography and gaming experience to the users. The Snapdragon 855 is the worlds first chipset to come with computer vision ISP, which Qualcomm says is going to improve how phone cameras process images and videos for better.
The newly announced Snapdragon 855 also comes with inbuilt support ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that can be embedded under the display. The company calls this technology 3D Sonic Super. The 3D Sonic Super will capture a full 3D image of the user's fingertips instead of a 2D image, which will make the unlock process more secure as well as faster. Given how 3D Sonic Super works, it will also allow people to unlock their phones even if the finger is wet or a bit dirty. Currently, fingerprint sensor fail if you try to unlock the phone when your hand is wet.
The Snapdragon 855 also improves the overall gaming performance by up to 21 per cent, says Qualcomm. The new chip comes with a feature called Snapdragon Elite gaming, which will -- most likely -- boost the performance of the phone when a user is running a game on it.
At the summit, Qualcomm announced that it was partnering companies like ASUS, Google, Samsung, HMD Global, OnePlus, Motorola, Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo and Xiaomi to launch 5G phones in 2019. While 5G is still in very early stages, the company believes that this next-generation network will start making an appearance in parts of North America, Europe, China, Japan, Australia, South East Asia and South Korea. For now, there are no details available about the 5G rollout in India. In fact, it may take a while before 5G is available in Delhi or Mumbai. The telecom companies in India are for now struggling to put together a robust 4G network.
SOURCE
