Qualcomm heralds new 5G mobile era with Snapdragon 888 chip

Kicking off a premium era for 5G smartphones and other devices, chip maker Qualcomm on Tuesday unveils the much-anticipated Snapdragon 888 5G mobile platform.

Snapdragon 888 has the potential to triple down on the future of computational photography and transform smartphones into professional quality cameras.

With the faster gigapixel speed Qualcomm Spectra ISP, users can capture photos and videos at 2.7 gigapixels per second or roughly 120 photos at 12MP resolution — up to 35 per cent faster than the previous generation.

"Creating premium experiences takes a relentless focus on innovation. It takes long term commitment, even in the face of immense uncertainty," said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated.

"It takes an organisation that's focused on tomorrow, to continue to deliver the technologies that redefine premium experiences," he said during the first day of the Qualcomm Tech Summit Digital.

The chipset houses the third generation Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System, enabling global compatibility by offering mmWave and sub-6 across all major bands worldwide.

It also offers support for 5G carrier aggregation, global multi-SIM, stand alone, non-stand alone, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.

According to Lekha Motiwala, director of product management for Qualcomm Technologies, the new sixth generation Qualcomm AI Engine, with the completely re-engineered Qualcomm Hexagon processor, takes a pivotal leap forward in AI compared to the previous generation to improve performance, power efficiency in the Snapdragon 888 chipset.

"The platform is further enhanced by the 2nd generation Qualcomm Sensing Hub, which incorporates lower-power always-on AI processing for intuitive, intelligent features," Motiwala added.

The third generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming featured in Snapdragon 888 delivers most significant upgrade in Qualcomm Adreno GPU performance.

During the keynote, Qualcomm demonstrated the power of Snapdragon 888 through a Radio-Controlled race car connected entirely by 5G mmWave.

Two race cars were connected to a private 5G network that was built with the help of Verizon and Ericsson and controlled over 5G using a Snapdragon 888 reference design with the Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System.

The drivers controlled these cars from over a mile away and viewed live video of the track from afar using the amazing capture capabilities of Snapdragon 888.