Qualcomm has unveiled its latest sub-flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, succeeding the highly popular Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 found in phones like the HONOR 200 Pro, POCO F6, and realme GT 6. Internally codenamed SM8735, the new chip is built on TSMC’s N4 4nm manufacturing process.
However, unlike its top-tier sibling, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Qualcomm 8s Gen 4 sticks with older Kryo CPU cores rather than the newer Oryon. If you’re not familiar, the Kryo cores are based on ARM’s Cortex designs, while Oryon is Qualcomm’s new custom CPU architecture — the same one powering the Snapdragon X Elite in laptops and convertibles, promising significant leaps in performance and power efficiency.
But don’t think the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is a pushover. In fact, the chip maker is making some bold claims for its latest silicon, touting 31% and 49% improvements in CPU and GPU performance, respectively, with a claimed 44% boost to the NPU. Gamers will also appreciate on-device ray-tracing support and Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, including Snapdragon Game Super Resolution 2.0, an upscaling technology akin to FSR1, and Adreno Image Motion Engine 2.0. The latter uses AI to predict and generate the next frame in a game before it’s rendered, effectively doubling the frame rate.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 product brief
For connectivity, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 integrates Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 5G modem, offering peak download speeds of 4.2Gbps. However, it’s worth noting that it only supports sub-6GHz spectrum, missing out on the faster mmWave bands. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and Qualcomm’s Extended Personal Area Network. XPAN uses Wi-Fi to transmit audio and is already featured in some recent wireless earbuds.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 features an Adreno 825 GPU and UFS 4.0 storage, LPDDR5X RAM, and the USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard. For photography, Qualcomm has included an 18-bit triple ISP, capable of handling up to 320-megapixel camera sensors and 4K HDR video recording at 60 frames per second.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is expected to make its debut in the iQOO Z10 Turbo later this month, with devices from Xiaomi, Redmi, OPPO, and other manufacturers slated to follow in the coming months.
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