Snapdragon 888 vs Snapdragon 865 Specs Appeal

This week, Qualcomm introduced its next-generation chipset that you'll see in next year's flagship Android smartphones. It's called the Snapdragon 888, and it represents one of the biggest improvements that we've seen in a chipset in years.

The prime core of the CPU is Cortex-X1, which is the best that ARM has to offer right now. Cortex-X1 is meant to be more customizable, and when it was announced, Arm promised a 30% increase in performance over Cortex-A77. The new architecture is definitely something that you should be excited about if you care about premium performance. It also comes with three Cortex-A78 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores.

On top of the new CPU architecture, almost everything else has been redesigned as well. It has Qualcomm's sixth-generation AI Engine with the Hexagon 780 processor, promising three times the performance per watt. The Spectra 580 ISP is now a triple ISP, meaning that it can capture images from three sensors at the same time. And then there's the Adreno 660 GPU, which promises 35% faster graphics rendering and 20% better power efficiency that the Adreno 650 that was in the last generation, the Snapdragon 865.

Like I said, there's a lot that's improved over the Snapdragon 865. Here are the two chips side-by-side:

	Snapdragon 888	Snapdragon 865
CPU	Kryo 680 CPU Up to 2.84GHz, with Arm Cortex-X1 technology 64-bit Architecture	Kryo 585 CPU Up to 2.84GHz 64-bit Architecture
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 660 GPU Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12	Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12
Cellular modem	Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System Peak Download Speed: 7.5 Gbps Peak Upload Speed: 3 Gbps Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm AI-Enhanced Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning, Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave 5G Spectrum: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz 5G mmWave specs: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO 5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4x4 MIMO Multi-SIM features: Global 5G multi-SIM Cellular Technology: 5G NR, LTE including CBRS support, HSPA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE	Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G modem-RF system Peak Download Speed: 7.5 Gbps Peak Upload Speed: 3 Gbps Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave 5G Spectrum: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz 5G mmWave specs: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO 5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4x4 MIMO Multi-SIM features: Global 5G multi-SIM Cellular Technology: HSPA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE, LTE including CBRS support
AI Engine	6th-gen AI Engine AIE GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 660 GPU AIE CPU: Qualcomm Kryo 680 CPU Hexagon Processor: Qualcomm Hexagon 780 Processor; 2nd gen Qualcomm Sensing Hub, Large shared AI memory, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator	5th-gen AI Engine AIE GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU AIE CPU: Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU AIE DSP: Qualcomm Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Qualcomm Sensing Hub, Qualcomm Hexagon 698 Processor
Process	5nm	7nm
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi Standards: Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 5, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6 technology features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8x8 sounding, 160 MHz channel support, OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), 4K QAM, WPA3 security support, 6 GHz operation (Wi-Fi 6E) Wi-Fi Spectral Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz	Wi-Fi Standards: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6-ready, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6 technology features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8x8 sounding, OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), 1024 QAM, Dual-band simultaneous (DBS), WPA3 security support, Target Wake Time Wi-Fi Spectral Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 60GHz
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Audio:  Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio,  LE Audio Features, Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Bluetooth 5.2	Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio, aptX Voice audio for super wide band voice calls, Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo, Bluetooth 5.1
NFC	Supported
Location	Satellite Systems Support: Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual frequency GNSS, NavIC, NavIC enabled, GPS, GNSS, QZSS, SBAS
USB	USB Version: USB 3.1, USB-C
Qualcomm FastConnect System	Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Subsystem: Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Bluetooth Features: Qualcomm aptX Voice, Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Bluetooth 5.2, LE Audio Features (broadcast audio), Qualcomm aptX™ Adaptive Audio, Dual Bluetooth Antennas Wi-Fi 6 features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8x8 sounding, 6 GHz operation (Wi-Fi 6E), OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), 4K QAM, Dual-band simultaneous (DBS), WPA3 security support, 4-Stream Dual-band simultaneous, Target Wake Time, 160 MHz channel support	Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Subsystem: Qualcomm FastConnect 6800 60 GHz Wi-Fi features: Always-on Wi-Fi sensing, Wire-equivalent latency Bluetooth Features: 1-to-many Bluetooth broadcast, Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo, Bluetooth 5.1, Qualcomm aptX Voice audio for super wide band voice calls, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio Wi-Fi 6 features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8x8 sounding, OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), 1024 QAM, Dual-band simultaneous (DBS), WPA3 security support, Target Wake Time
Camera	Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra 580 image signal processor, Triple 14-bit CV-ISPs, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP) Dual Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64 MP Triple Camera, MFNR,, 30fps, ZSL: Up to 28 MP Single Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 84 MP Single Camera: Up to 200 MP Camera Features: Real-time object classification, Low light photography architecture, 10-bit HDR HEIF photo capture, Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR) Slow Motion Video Capture: 720p @ 960 FPS Video Capture Formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HEVC Video Capture Features: Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, 4K HDR with Computational HD, 8K video capture at 30fps, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture	Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra 480 image signal processor, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP), Dual 14-bit CV-ISPs Dual Camera, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 25 MP Single Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64 MP Single Camera: Up to 200 MP Camera Features: HEIF photo capture Slow Motion Video Capture: 720p @ 960 FPS Video Capture Formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HEVC Video Capture Features: 4K video capture with simultaneous 64MP photo capture, Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture
Video	Codec Support: Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9
Display	Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz Display Features: Demura and subpixel rendering for OLED uniformity Max External Display: 4K @ 60 Hz HDR: HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, HDR10 Color Depth: Up to 10-bit Color Gamut: Rec2020	Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz Max External Display: 4K @ 60 Hz HDR: HDR10+, HDR10 Color Depth: Up to 10-bit Color Gamut: Rec2020
General Audio	Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WSA8835, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology	Audio Technology: Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WSA8815, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
Security Support	Fingerprint Sensor: Qualcomm 3D Sonic, Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max Secure Processing Unit: Biometric Authentication (Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, Face)

These specs are from Qualcomm's product listings for the Snapdragon 865 and the Snapdragon 888.

Qualcomm also introduced a Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset in-between last year and this year, although it's supposed to be aimed more at gaming handsets. It's mostly identical to the Snapdragon 865, but the CPU is overclocked to 3.1GHz, and the Adreno 650 GPU is boosted as well.

One thing that specs won't tell you is what real-world performance is like. One thing that's clear though is that the Snapdragon 888 is a heck of an improvement in just about every area. It's going to be fun to test it out next year when devices start to arrive.