Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and what's next for Snapdragon in 2025

Qualcomm just launched the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform. The chipmaker made it clear their focus is AI, camera improvements and gaming. Specification-wise, we're getting another architectural change over the 8 Gen 2.

Qualcomm claims that its CPU is 30% more powerful and 20% more efficient than 8 Gen 2. Its cores can clock up to 3.30GHz with one prime Cortex X4 core, five A720 cores can run up to 3.2GHz and two efficient A520 cores at 2.3GHz. Paired with the CPU is an Adreno GPU that is 25% faster than previous generation with 40% better ray tracing performance.

Tagging along, the memory configuration sees an upgrade as well at 4800MHz and as much as 24GB. For Wireless, Qualcomm packed in the Snapdragon X75 5G RF system and their Fastconnect 7800 for WiFi 7 and 5G. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 details and specifications

As for benchmarks, the 8 Gen 3 is nothing short of impressive. Qualcomm demoed the Qualcomm Reference Device and ran a couple benchmarks in a short clip. The results? Sizeable improvements over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. For AnTuTu, the sample scored north of 2.1 Million. Geekbench recorded 2,300 and 7,500 for single and multi core workload. On the GPU side, the Adreno within the chip soars at 96fps on GFXBench Aztec 1440p Vulkan High Tier.

For comparison, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 gets about 1.6 Million in AnTuTu, 2000 and 5700 in Geekbench and about 69fps on GFXBench Aztec 1440p.

At the earlier parts of the presentation, Qualcomm showcased their Oryon CPU architecture. They made great claims versus the competition with performance and efficiency. About 30% more efficient than the Apple M2 Max and up to 70% over the i9-13980HX.

Oryon, Qualcomm's ARM-compatible custom CPU architecture

Qualcomm's performance claims. Oryon will be coming to mobile phones.

The chipmaker now teased that the Oryon cores will be featured on the next mobile platform, ostensibly the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Though a report from Android Authority states that the 8 Gen 4 might fetch a larger price tag according from a Qualcomm executive.

Oryon will be the next ARM ISA-compatible custom CPU design since 2016 with the first generation Kryo on the Snapdragon 820. Anyway, with Qualcomm's claims for Oryon, it is worth keeping an eye on the 8 Gen 4 next year.