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The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is all about big cameras, fast connections, and AI
Qualcomm's next SoC is almost here
There's no question that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 was a major step forward for smartphone performance, but it was far from a perfect chipset. Plenty of users and developers alike found the 888 running fast and hot, with OnePlus going so far as to throttle the chip in its flagship phones to improve battery life. With 2022 on the horizon, Qualcomm is looking to make Snapdragon the star of the show, with a new naming scheme and a clearer brand identity. Ultimately, all that matters is whether the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 can push a new hardware lineup forward.
Snapdragon Sound's new lossless audio won't just sound better, it might stop your Bluetooth buds from cutting out all the time
Qualcomm's certification and the new aptX Lossless hide a pretty good perk
Bluetooth audio is hardly cutting-edge. Bargain bin buds can be had these days for $15 on sale, and folks buy them in droves. But they're not all created equal — different models and different phones support different standards with different qualities. Qualcomm, with its fingers in basically every part of the smartphone pie, decided earlier this year to roll out a new Snapdragon Sound certification: a single badge you could look for that means "this thing does the good audio stuff." And today, the company has announced that Snapdragon Sound will support lossless CD-quality audio, which is all the rage these days now that Apple Music has it. But, even if you don't care about better audio quality, there's actually a tiny, hidden benefit to this change that I'm actually even more excited for.