Following the announcement of the flagship-tier Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 earlier this week, Qualcomm has unveiled its mid-tier Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC today, which is slated for upper mid-range and premium Android devices. The new chip enables on-device AI capabilities with support for numerous LLMs (Large Language Models) while also adding a faster Wi-Fi 7.
Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 adds on-device AI and faster connectivity
The biggest emphasis in the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 are AI and connectivity. In addition to the on-device AI feature, Qualcomm rates the chip to have 60 percent better performance per watt in AI processing compared to the previous silicon. It also enables compatibility with a wider list of chatbots and LLMs, including Llama 2 and Google’s Gemini Nano.
Together with the AI enhancements, the bumped-up ISP brings better semantic segmentation or in uses of identifying objects and faces even in low light conditions, subsequently improving visual assistance using the AI.
On the connectivity side, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is the first on its line to add Wi-Fi 7 through the FastConnect 7800 controller. Additionally, it comes with a Snapdragon X63 5G modem that is compatible with 5G versions under 3GGP’s Release 17 and outputs up to 4.2 Gbps of download speed.
Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 adds a huge graphics performance boost
In regard to the CPU and GPU, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is built on a 4 nm node and promises to be 5 percent more efficient than the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2. It has an octa-core processor helmed by a Cortex-X4 primary core that can be clocked up to 2.8 GHz. The overall CPU performance is said to be 15 percent faster while the Adreno GPU adds 45 percent better graphics power.
The chip can be configured with up to 24 GB LPDDR5X of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. Moreover, it can run on displays with variable refresh between 1 and 240 Hz and panels with 4K resolution at 60 fps or QHD+ resolution at 120 fps.
The OnePlus Ace 3V is the first smartphone to feature the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chip. The handset is expected to be rebranded as the OnePlus Nord 4 outside China, and it could find its way to the USA and Europe similar to the OnePlus 12 (review) and OnePlus 12R (review).
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