Mediatek surprised the industry with the release of the Dimensity 9300 chipset, based on a current-generation manufacturing process, but the results did not live up to expectations.
Next year, Qualcomm looks set to take a similar approach with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 series, ditching the big.LITTLE configuration, which combines performance cores with power-efficient cores.
The concept of processors with “all-big cores” is not new, having been successfully used by AMD in the PC field. The problems arise when the severe temperature and power consumption constraints specific to mobile devices are introduced. Big.LITTLE CPU configurations were essential for smartphones and tablets, and the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 represented an attempt to deviate from this norm, but endurance tests demonstrated the limitations of this approach, writes Fone Arena.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 process could only include performance cores
At the Snapdragon Summit event in October, Qualcomm revealed the first details of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, announcing the use of custom Oryon cores. Additional rumors indicate that this chipset, codenamed Sun and built on TSMC’s 3nm process, will feature an octa-core CPU consisting of two large cores and six medium cores, all under the name “Phoenix”.
This configuration suggests that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be composed exclusively of performance cores, with the only optimizations for efficiency manifesting in reduced frequencies for the secondary cores.
The current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 uses a 1+5+2 configuration, with a main Cortex X4 core capable of reaching up to 3.30GHz in boost mode. This core accelerates the launch of applications, while the five Cortex-A720 cores balance efficiency and performance, with three reaching 3.20GHz and two limited to 3.00GHz.
Two other Cortex-A520 cores, capped at 2.30GHz, manage background applications, minimizing power consumption. If Qualcomm will indeed adopt an all-big configuration for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, it could significantly change the approach to energy efficiency in mobile devices.
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Tags: Snapdragon Gen process include performance cores means
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