Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 5G 7nm Mobile Platform announced – Octa-Core Kryo 485 CPUs for 45% improved performance, 20% faster Adreno 640 GPU


After testing the Snapdragon 855, Qualcomm on the second day of the annual Snapdragon Technology Summit detailed the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform, the world’s first commercial mobile platform supporting multi-gigabit 5G, built on 7nm process technology. It features multi-gigabit 4G connectivity with the built-in Snapdragon X24 LTE modem, and the Snapdragon X50 can be added to support 5G for both Sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequency bands.

It also offers powerful next generation Wi-Fi performance via the Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6-ready mobile platform, has WPA3 security, supports mmWave Wi-Fi and industry first 802.11ay-based platform for speeds up to 10 Gbps and brings wire-equivalent low latency.

It uses Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU built on Arm Cortex Technology that uses 1 x 2.84GHz Prime Core, 3 x 2.42GHz Performance Cores and 4 x 1.80GHZ Efficiency Cores, offering up to a 45% performance improvement  and Adreno 640 GPU promises up to 20% faster graphics compared to Snapdragon 845. It has support for Vulkan 1.1, high dynamic range (HDR), and physically based rendering (PBR).

It features the 4th generation multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine, which offers a total capacity of more than 7 trillion operations per second (7 TOPs), and 3x the AI performance compared to Snapdragon 845. The all new Qualcomm Hexagon 690 Processor includes a newly designed Hexagon Tensor Accelerator (HTA) and four Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX).

“Adreno GPU hardware enhancements that improve AI acceleration include 50% more arithmetic logic units, and new instructions to further accelerate AI performance have been added to the all-new Kryo 485 CPU,” says Qualcomm. The 4th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine capabilities now includes AI Speech, AnyVision, iFlytek, Elevoc and Nalbi. In addition, it has more advanced on-device Voice Assistant using dedicated AI acceleration for echo cancellation and noise suppression, so users can talk to their Voice Assistant device at any time.

The new Qualcomm Spectra 380 ISP integrates numerous hardware accelerated computer vision (CV) capabilities such as hardware-based depth sensing which enables video capture, object classification, and object segmentation all in real-time in 4K HDR at 60fps. This lets you capture a video and accurately replace selected objects or backgrounds in the scene in real-time all with 4K HDR resolution. It is also first to support video recording using HDR10+ and also has support for HEIF file format encoding.

It includes new Elite Gaming Experience that includes

  • Cinematic color grading in true HDR (>1 billion colors)
  • Filmic tone-mapping, demanding physically based rendering (PBR)
  • Support for the Vulkan 1.1 graphics library
  • Custom algorithms designed to reduce dropped frames by >90%.
  • Multiplayer gaming is improved by reducing latencies using existing 802.11 standards

The Snapdragon 855 enables volumetric virtual reality (VR) immersive video experience at 8K resolutions. It is the first mobile platform to support the new Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor, the world’s first commercial ultrasonic fingerprint solution supported under the display. This can accurately detect fingerprints through numerous contaminants.

Highlights of Qualcomm Snapdragon 855

  • 1 x Kryo 485 Prime CPU (A76-based) at up to 2.84GHz, 3 x Kryo 485 Performance CPUs (A76-based) at up to 2.42GHz,  4x Kryo 485 Efficiency CPUs (A55-based) at up to 1.80GHz
  • 7nm (N7) Process Technology
  • Integrated X24 LTE modem with Global Mode
  • Cat 20/13 speeds of up to 2 Gbps down,  7x20MHz carrier aggregation, 256-QAM, 4×4 MIMO on five carriers and 318 Mbps up, 3×20 MHz carrier aggregation, 256-QAM, Uplink Data Compression
  • Multi SIM with support for Dual SIM Dual VoLTE (DSDV) and LTE Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) +LAA
  • Next-generation Calling Services including VoLTE with SRVCC to 3G and 2G, HD and Ultra HD Voice (EVS), and CSFB to 3G and 2G
  • Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU , Vulkan 1.1, HDR Gaming, and Physically Based Rendering, elite gaming on mobile is achieved
  • Hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder, HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+,, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback
  • Qualcomm Aqstic Audio Technology. Native DSD support, PCM up to
    384 kHz/32-bit, Supports two wake words simultaneously  (Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Baidu, Cortana), Always-on echo cancellation and noise suppression; up to 4 mic far-field mic support for better voice recognition in tough conditions, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive audio  technology, Qualcomm TrueWireless™ Stereo Plus technology
  •  Up to 20 MP dual camera, Up to 32 MP single camera, Qualcomm Spectra 380 Image Sensor Processor (14-bit dual-ISP), HEIF photo capture, Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture, Slow motion video capture up to 720p at 480fps, HEVC Video Capture, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG support, 4K HDR Video Capture with Portrait Mode
    (Bokeh)
  • Hexagon 690 DSP with 4th Generation Hexagon Vector DSP (HVX) for AI and imaging, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant, Qualcomm All-Ways Aware technology
  • LPDDR4x 2133MHz, 4x16bit memory
  • 802.11ax-ready Multi-gigabit, Integrated 802.11ac 2×2 (2-stream) MU-MIMO, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 60 GHz, Bluetooth 5, NFC
  •  Dual frequency GNSS, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS
  • USB Version 3.1; USB Type-C Support
  • Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology

The Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform is currently sampling to OEMs and is expected to power devices in the first half of 2019.


Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram