At the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2023 in Maui, the tech giant announced its highly anticipated Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. This new platform is expected to power upcoming flagship smartphones, potentially including devices like the Galaxy S24 and the OnePlus 12, among other high-end phones set to debut in 2024. While the exact nature of its AI features remains shrouded in mystery, this emphasis on AI capabilities is at the core of Qualcomm’s latest platform.
In contrast to conventional processing platforms, which typically rely on CPUs for application processing and GPUs for graphics and specialized tasks, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 boasts its dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). The NPU is specifically engineered for running machine learning (ML) applications and functions. Notably, Qualcomm is taking an open approach by not restricting its NPU to any single company’s ML features.