Snapdragon 845: all the major details here

Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 845 processor yesterday, set to power many smartphones next year.

But now, we actually have more details on the processor, being built on a second-generation 10nm process.

For starters, the chip uses eight semi-custom cores, dubbed Kryo 385 CPU cores. The heavy lifting cores top out at 2.8Ghz while the lightweight cores top out at 1.8Ghz. The cores are customised versions of the A75 and A55 cores, Qualcomm confirmed in a later Q&A.

Qualcomm is claiming a 25-30% performance improvement for the heavy cores, while the lightweight cores see a 15% improvement.

We also see proprietary tech for Bluetooth 5, that will offer up to 50% better battery life for wireless earbuds. However, audio accessory makers will need to explicitly support this.

The Snapdragon 845 makes use of semi-custom cores, based on ARM’s A75 and A55 cores

The US chip designer has also implemented a secure processing unit (featuring its own core and memory), used for authentication.

Looking for dedicated AI silicon? Well, Qualcomm is essentially tweaking its Hexagon digital signal processor to better handle vector maths and other machine learning-related activities.

Qualcomm employees added that it was too early to adopt dedicated AI silicon just yet, hence tweaking existing silicon.

Read more: Snapdragon 845 lacks Huawei-style AI silicon, here’s why

Qualcomm also claimed video recording improvements, saying it would support Ultra HD Premium (HDR) recording and 720p/480p slow motion.

Expect the first 845-equipped phones in the first half of 2018.

Hadlee Simons is a guest of Qualcomm in Hawaii.