Qualcomm has adopted a pattern: launch a Snapdragon chip, then introduce a faster “+” variant and a cheaper “s” variant. There was the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 in late 2023, then the beefy 7+ Gen 3 in March, and, well, now there’s an “s” model on the horizon. It’s not official yet, maybe it’ll happen at Qualcomm’s big event in October. For now, we have this leaked slide that was shared by Evan Blass.
Focusing on the details at the bottom, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 will have a 20% faster CPU, 40% faster GPU, and 30% faster NPU, while delivering a modest 12% improvement in power efficiency.
These numbers are likely compared to the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2. This chip is not particularly fast: it has four Cortex-A78 cores (2.4 GHz) and four A55 cores (1.95 GHz), as well as an Adreno 710 GPU (940 MHz). This hardware is also present in the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, although it runs at lower clock speeds.
The 7s Gen 2 GPU is comparable to, say, a Dimensity 7300 GPU (Mali-G615 MC2), so a 40% increase over that would make the 7s Gen 3 competitive with more powerful mid-range chips. It should finish close to but still behind the regular 7 Gen 3 (Adreno 720, 975 MHz). It's unclear what CPU and GPU hardware will be used in the 7s Gen 3, though, so this is just a guess.
Regardless, generative AI and language translation/transcription will likely be the main selling points of the new chip. AI is hot and really benefits from a fast GPU and NPU. And it will help the camera turn the raw Bayer data into a color image with AI mosaic.
This chipset is also expected to be used in cheaper gaming phones, thanks to AFME or “Adreno Frame Motion Engine”. The latter generates additional frames without overloading the GPU. For example, it converts 60 frames per second to 120 frames per second. There is also VRS Pro (Variable Rate Shading).
Connectivity will also be improved, although we don't have all the details yet. Bluetooth 5.4 is certainly new (the 7s Gen 2 only offers 5.2). Spatial Audio also seems to be a new addition.
The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 has been used in several popular phones and we have reviewed most of them. Some were reasonably priced and the chipset performance was described as “adequate”. However, other phones were too expensive for the performance offered by the chip. If official performance figures are to be believed, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 will probably fare better in future reviews.
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