Qualcomm’s AI ambitions are now trickling into more affordable territory. The newly revealed Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, a relatively modest variant of one of Qualcomm’s top chipsets, will bring on-device AI to mid-range and budget smartphones later this year.
As always, Qualcomm’s “s” segment is dedicated to the affordable smartphone market. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is a younger sibling to the 8s Gen 3 that was revealed a few months ago, though it’s more accurately described as an offshoot of the standard Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. Some of the specs fall short of the standard Snapdragon 7 Gen 3—we’ve downgraded to a 2.5 GHz prime core—though the two chipsets share more similarities than differences. A phone equipped with the 7s Gen 3 can shoot 200MP images and utilize Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, for example.
When compared to the old 7s Gen 2, the new 7s Gen 3 is a notable step into the future. It boasts a 20% increase in CPU performance, a 40% bump in accelerated GPU performance, 12% greater power efficiency, plus a 30% boost in on-device AI capabilities.
On-device AI is the marketing gimmick, predictably. But it’s an understandable gimmick. Manufacturers are desperate to bring more AI functionality to smartphones, and in case you haven’t noticed, manufacturers are the ones who buy these chips from Qualcomm. That said, the AI stuff that Qualcomm is highlighting in this release will make your eyes glaze over—Llama 2 and Baichuan-7B support, increased Micro NPU functionality—the average person won’t benefit from this stuff until a killer app utilizes it.
However, Qualcomm does advertise two AI features that may immediately benefit mid-range and budget smartphone buyers. The first is on-device multi-language translation and transcription (no need for the cloud). And the second is noise cancelation for phone and video calls.
We’ll see the first Snapdragon 7s Gen 3-equipped smartphones in late 2024 or early 2025. Most major manufacturers that sell mid-range or budget phones, including Samsung, will sell a device that contains this chipset.
Source: Qualcomm
