Qualcomm this morning is taking the wraps off of a new smartphone SoC for the mid-range market, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. The second of Qualcomm\u2019s down-market \u2018S\u2019 tier Snapdragon 7 parts, the 7s series is functionally the entry-level tier for the Snapdragon 7 family \u2013 and really, most Qualcomm-powered handsets in North America.<\/p>\n
With three tiers of Snapdragon 7 chips, the 7s can easily be lost in the noise that comes with more powerful chips. But the latest iteration of the 7s is a bit more interesting than usual, as rather than reusing an existing die, Qualcomm has seemingly minted a whole new die for this part. As a result, the company has upgraded the 7s family to use Arm\u2019s current Armv9 CPU cores, while using bits and pieces of Qualcomm\u2019s latest IPs elsewhere.<\/p>\n
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-Class SoCs<\/td>\n
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| SoC<\/td>\n <\/p>\n | Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 \n\t\t\t(SM7550-AB)<\/td>\n <\/p>\n | Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 \n\t\t\t(SM7635)<\/b><\/td>\n <\/p>\n | Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 \n\t\t\t(SM7435-AB)<\/td>\n
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| CPU<\/td>\n <\/p>\n | 1x Cortex-A715 \n\t\t\t@ 2.63GHz<\/p>\n 3x Cortex-A715 4x Cortex-A510 <\/p>\n | 1x Cortex-A720 \n\t\t\t@ 2.5GHz<\/p>\n 3x Cortex-A720 4x Cortex-A520 <\/strong><\/td>\n <\/p>\n 4x Cortex-A78 | \n\t\t\t@ 2.4GHz<\/p>\n 4x Cortex-A55
<\/p>\n GPU<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Adreno<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Adreno<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Adreno<\/td>\n |
<\/p>\n DSP \/ NPU<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Hexagon<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Hexagon<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Hexagon<\/td>\n |
<\/p>\n Speicher | \n\t\t\tController<\/td>\n <\/p>\n 2x 16-bit CH<\/p>\n | @ 3200MHz LPDDR5 \/ 25.6GB\/s<\/p>\n @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X \/ 17.0GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n <\/p>\n 2x 16-bit CH<\/p>\n | @ 3200MHz LPDDR5 \/ 25.6GB\/s<\/p>\n @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X \/ 17.0GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n <\/p>\n 2x 16-bit CH<\/p>\n | @ 3200MHz LPDDR5 \/ 25.6GB\/s<\/p>\n @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X \/ 17.0GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
<\/p>\n ISP\/Camera<\/td>\n | <\/p>\n Triple 12-bit Spectra ISP<\/p>\n | 1x 200MP or 64MP with ZSL 4K HDR video & 64MP burst capture<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
<\/p>\n 1x 200MP or 64MP with ZSL 4K HDR video & 64MP burst capture<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
<\/p>\n 1x 200MP or 48MP with ZSL 4K HDR video & 48MP burst capture<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
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<\/p>\n H.265, VP9 Decoding<\/p>\n Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG<\/p>\n 1080p120 SlowMo<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
<\/p>\n H.265, VP9 Decoding<\/p>\n HDR10+, HDR10, HLG<\/p>\n 1080p120 SlowMo<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
<\/p>\n H.265, VP9 Decoding<\/p>\n HDR10, HLG<\/p>\n 1080p120 SlowMo<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
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<\/p>\n (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave)
<\/p>\n (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave)
<\/p>\n (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave)<\/span>
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Officially, the Snapdragon 7s is classified as a 1+3+4 design \u2013 meaning there\u2019s 1 prime core, 3 performance cores, and 4 efficiency cores. In this case, Qualcomm is using the same architecture for both the prime and efficiency cores, Arm\u2019s current-generation Cortex-A720 design. The prime core gets to turbo as high as 2.5GHz, while the remaining A720 cores will turbo as high as 2.4GHz.<\/p>\n These are joined by the 4 efficiency cores, which, as is tradition, are based upon Arm\u2019s current A5xx cores, in this case, A520. These can boost as high as 1.8GHz.<\/p>\n Compared to the outgoing Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, the switch in Arm cores represents a fairly significant upgrade, replacing an A78\/A55 setup with the aforementioned A720\/A520 setup. Notably, clockspeeds are pretty similar to the previous generation part, so most of the unconstrained performance uplift on this generation is being driven by improvements in IPC, though the faster prime core should offer a bit more kick for single-threaded workloads.<\/p>\n All told, touting a 20% improvement in CPU performance over the 7s Gen 2, though that claim doesn\u2019t clarify whether it\u2019s single or multi-threaded performance (or a mixture of both).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, graphics are driven by one of Qualcomm\u2019s Adreno GPUs. As is usually the case, the company is not offering any significant details on the specific GPU configuration being used \u2013 or even what generation it is. A high-level look at the specifications doesn\u2019t reveal any major features that weren\u2019t present in other Snapdragon 7 parts. And Qualcomm isn\u2019t bringing high-end features like ray tracing down to such a modest part. That said, I\u2019ve previously heard through the tea leaves that this may be a next-generation (Adreno 800 series) design; though if that\u2019s the case, Qualcomm is certainly not trying to bring attention to it.<\/p>\n Curiously, however, the video decode block on the SoC seems rather dated. Despite this being a new die, Qualcomm has opted not to include AV1 decoding \u2013 or, at least, opted not to enable it \u2013 so H.265 and VP9 are the most advanced codecs supported.<\/p>\n Compared to CPU performance gains, Qualcomm\u2019s expected GPU performance gains are more significant. The company is claiming that the7s Gem 3 will deliver a 40% improvement in GPU performance over the 7s Gen 2.<\/p>\n Finally, the Hexagon NPU block on the SoC incorporates some of Qualcomm\u2019s latest IP, as the company continues their focused AI push across all of their chip segments. Notably, the version of the NPU used here gets INT4 support for low precision client inference, which is new to the Snapdragon 7s family. As with Qualcomm\u2019s other Gen 3 SoCs, the big drive here is for local (on-device) LLM execution.<\/p>\n With regards to performance, Qualcomm says that customers should expect to see a 30% improvement in AI performance relative to the 7s Gen 2.<\/p>\n Feeding all of these blocks is a 32-bit memory controller. Interestingly, Qualcomm has opted to support older LPDDR4X even with this newer chip, so the maximum memory bandwidth depends on the memory type used. For LPDDR4X-4266 that will be 17GB\/sec, and for LPDDR5-6400 that will be 25.6GB\/sec. In both cases, this is identical to the bandwidth available for the 7s Gen 2.<\/p>\n Rounding out the package, the 7s Gen 3 does incorporate some newer\/more powerful camera hardware as well. We\u2019re still looking at a trio of 12-bit Spectra ISPs, but the maximum resolution in zero shutter lag and burst modes has been bumped up to 64MPix. Video recording capabilities are otherwise identical on paper, as the 7s Gen 2 already supported 4K HDR capture.<\/p>\n Meanwhile on the wireless communication side of matters, the 7s Gen 3 packs one of Qualcomm\u2019s integrated Snapdragon 5G modems. As with its predecessor, the 7s Gen 3 supports both Sub-6 and mmWave bands, with a maximum (theoretical) throughput of 2.9Gbps.<\/p>\n Eagle-eyed chip watchers will note, however, that Qualcomm is doing away with any kind of version information as of this part. So while the 7s Gen 2 used a Snapdragon X62 modem, the 7s Gen 3\u2019s modem has no such designation \u2013 it\u2019s merely an integrated Snapdragon modem. According to the company, this change has been made to \u201csimplify overall branding and to be consistent with other IP blocks in the chipset.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, the Wi-Fi\/Bluetooth block has lost its version number; it is now merely a FastConnect block. In regards to features and specifications, this appears to be the same Wi-Fi 6E block that we\u2019ve seen in half a dozen other Snapdragon SoCs, offering 2 spatial streams at channel widths up to 160MHz. It is worth noting, however, that since this is a newer SoC it\u2019s certified for Bluetooth 5.4 support, versus the 5.2\/5.3 certification other Snapdragon 7 chips have carried.<\/p>\n |
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