The Newest Snapdragon 7-Series Chip Isn't the Fastest

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip for "affordable flagship" phones. It's designed to replace the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. While the 7 Gen 3 has some newer and better features compared to the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 announced in April, it's not a "plus" chip and therefore doesn't have quite that level of performance in most areas. (A faster 7+ Gen 3 could be announced at a later date.) New features in the Gen 3 that are a first for the 7 series include:

• INT4 precision for faster and more efficient AI,
• Spatial Audio with head-tracking,
• an "AI Remosaic" feature for photo noise reduction, and
• support for the Snapdragon Seamless technology recently introduced with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
• The Gen 3 also upgrades to the X63 modem for the fastest potential 5G data speeds (up to 5 Gbps) in the 7 series.

Compared to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the 7 Gen 3 has 60% better AI performance (per watt), 50% better graphics performance, and 15% better CPU performance. (The 7+ Gen 2 still has better performance in these areas.) Oddly, it also has a couple of downgrades compared to the Gen 1. The Spectra triple ISP (for camera processing) is only 12-bit instead of 14-bit (or 18-bit for the 7+ Gen 2). Also, it has a FastConnect 6700 subsystem for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi instead of FastConnect 6900 on the 7 Gen 1 and 7+ Gen 2. While the new Gen 3 does support Bluetooth 5.3, LE Audio, Auracast, and Wi-Fi 6E, the change means it's only capable of 2.9 Gbps peak speeds on Wi-Fi instead of 3.6 Gbps. Like the other 7-series chips, the 7 Gen 3 is made with a 4nm manufacturing process. The first phones powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 are expected to be announced later this month.

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