Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 845 processor

Qualcomm has unveiled its latest CPU

American chip maker Qualcomm has finally unveiled the Snapdragon 845, which it says is 25 per cent faster than its previous mobile processors.

At the second Snapdragon Technology Summit in Hawaii, the company detailed the new Snapdragon 845 processor, which will power many smartphones in 2018.

With its latest processor, Qualcomm is looking to provide a more immersive multimedia experience, on-device artificial intelligence, lightning-fast connectivity and improved security.

Qualcomm said it's currently in the process of sampling customer orders, and is expected to begin shipping the technology in commercial devices from early next year.

It'll be used in a range of devices, including mobile phones, XR headsets and always connected PCs. The firm said it'll underpin the next-generation of computing.

Just like the Snapdragon 835, the 845 will be manufactured by Korean tech giant Samsung using its 10nm process. However, it won't be included in the electronics firm's products.

Thanks to new heterogenous computing processes, power is boosted across the board. Qualcomm explained that the processor will result in better battery life.

There are also new camera and visual processing architectures, which will help the processor deliver 30 per cent power reduction for games, videos and XR applications.

It makes use of the new Kryo 385 architecture, which is built on Arm Cortex technology. This technology boosts gaming and application launch times by 25 per cent.

Qualcomm is hoping that the 845 will underpin the development of next-generation connectivity. It integrates the second-generation Gigabit LTE solution.

In terms of security, the processor comes with a hardware isolated subsystem, which Qualcomm said comes with vault-like characteristics to fight cyber crooks.

Snapdragon 845 comes with the company's third-generation AI mobile technology as well, improving AI performance by three times.

Finally, the CPU integrates the new Qualcomm Spectra 280 image signal processor (ISP) and Qualcomm Adreno 630 visual processing subsystem.

Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile at Qualcomm Technologies, said: "As leaders in mobile technology, we will transform the mobile experience with comprehensive advancements in visual processing, AI, security and connectivity.

"The Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform is the next horizon of innovation and is going to transform the way people use their mobile devices to make their lives better."