The past 3 decades have been revolutionary in technology and various other fields. You must have heard of Snapdragon, a popular name in mobile device processors. We probably don’t give much attention to processors except if you are coming from a gaming community or have a sense of how processors can slingshot your device’s performance. For all of this, we bring you a Snapdragon journey in a snap!
In today’s post, we will check out who developed Snapdragon, how a processor can enhance performance, Snapdragon versions, and much more. Without further due, let’s begin the post.
A little about Snapdragon
Qualcomm which is a multinational company that designs and manufactures semiconductors and wireless telecommunications products has developed the Snapdragon processor. As per a company’s spokesperson, they pick the snapdragon name for their processor because both “snap” and “dragon” sounds speedy, and aggressive which is what their processor is meant to be. The first initial snapdragon processor launched was from the Snapdragon S series. Its name was QSD8250 which launched somewhere in the last quarter of 2007.
Since the day it launched, Qualcomm has made many changes to its processors and enhancements. From time to time constant improvement has attracted mobile manufacturers to ship their phones with Snapdragon processors. Their famous processor product nodes are 200, 400, 600, 700, and the 800 series in ancestry. Today the company is spreading its wings towards laptops, tabs, and even the PC market. The company wants you to go through a high-quality experience across your devices.
You may wonder, why snapdragon is becoming the primary choice of manufacturers of mobile divisions. There are a couple of reasons for it. The Company covered this in one of its blogs. According to them here are a few points that their processor contains. Its fast, most advanced AI, the elite gaming processors apart from standard ones are extra boosts and give manufacturers the option to consider it. Such various masked features make Snapdragon more powerful and considerable options than its rivals.
What processors can do?
The processor is that key component without which the devices will not work. It’s the processor that processes all instructions and exchanges information. Things would have been vague if processors didn’t exist! Not only it does do the necessary job but it also plays a key role in enhancing the experience while the task is being performed. A processor would control the internal components like vibration and sensors. It would also review how charging is being performed and regulate it.
The graphical capacity is also something that depends on the processor. Concisely a processor is a brain of a device. How better a device would perform would be directly dependent upon what quality of processor it has. Especially when it comes to smartphone processors, the stakes are high. The reason behind it is, on average a user would use the device multiple times and in multiple conditions. The processor has to make sure it understands things right and manages them.
Snapdragon processor variants
We have gone through a brief about Snapdragon. Qualcomm has made things easy for manufacturers by availing the processors for low-end, mid-end, and high-end budget phones. For example Snapdragon 200 series, 400 series, and 800 series, etc. How these have evolved, let’s check them out.
Snapdragon S1 (2007) –
Snapdragon S series began with the processor name QSD8250 in 2007. The main enhancements were a CPU with 1 core up to 1 GHz capacity, and 1 to 12 MP camera capacity.
Snapdragon S2 & S3 (Available- 2010 – 2011) –
S2 had a CPU with 1 core up to 1.5 GHz capacity, up to 384K CPU cache, 2 times faster, 45 nm. S3 had a CPU with 2 cores up to 1.7 GHz, Adreno 220, 12 to 16 MP camera capacity, 45 nm.
Snapdragon S4 series (2012) [play, plus, pro] –
Snapdragon S4 series processors had 3 versions Play, Plus, and Pro. These series of processors were having a significant amount of improvements and were later incorporated into Snapdragon 200/400 series (S4 Play) and 600/800 series (S4 Plus and S4 Pro).
Snapdragon 2 Series (2013 to 2019) –
The Snapdragon 2 series have some entry-level processor to offer. This processor was intended for budget phones. This Series includes Snapdragon 200 (2013), 205(2017), 208(2014), 210(2014), 212 (2015), and 215 (2019) from the year 2013 to 2019 The CPU enhancements were made from 2 cores to 4 cores based on processor successors. The nanometer size of chips has then become 28 nm in the latest Snapdragon 215.
Snapdragon 4 Series –
Snapdragon 4 Series includes a bunch of processors, there were 410, 412, 415, 425, 427, 430, 435, 429, 439, 450, 460, 480/480+, and 4 Gen 1. The initial release of the Snapdragon 400 is in 2013. Constant gradual improvements led to many processor version enhancements one after the other. The most recent in Snapdragon 400 Series is Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 which was declared in the last year 2022. This offers a chipset of 6nm with 2 + 6 cores and is packed with many improvements.
Snapdragon 6 Series –
Same to the 4 series Qualcomm decided to develop variants with 600. In this series, the variants are Snapdragon 600, 610, 615, 616, 617, 625, 626, 650, 652, 653, 630, 636, 660, 632, 670, 662, 665, 675, 678 680, 685, 690, 695 and 6 Gen 1. A total of 24 variants are in this series. Of which the most recent is the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 which shares the same declaration date as of Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. 6 Gen 1 is a 4nm chip, that offers 4 + 4 cores, and many more features.
Snapdragon 7 Series –
Somewhere around 2018, Qualcomm comes up with its 7 Series. This series includes 710, 712, 720G/730/730G/732G, 750G, 765/765G/768G, 778G/778G+, 780G, 782G, 7 Gen 1 and 7+ Gen 2. The 7 series includes a Gaming processor that uses “G” at the end of its processor name. Mobile gaming for mid-range and semi-high-range devices is the main target of the processor. Snapdragon 7 Gen 2 is the latest from the 7 series. Fresh introduction on 17th march 2023 includes a 4 nm chip, multi-core Cortex with Adreno 725, and special gaming editions.
Snapdragon 8 Series –
Qualcomm maintains legacy with 8 Series that incorporates 800, 801, 805, 808, 810, 820, 821, 835, 845, 855/855+, 860, 865/865+, 870, 888/888+, 8/8+ Gen 1, 8 Gen 2. Specification wise latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is built with 4 nm in size and offers a multi-core Cortex with Adreno 740 with is 15 % more than the 7 Series and 10% more than 8/8+ Gen 1. As per the reports, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is going to launch somewhere at the end of 2023 and has Adreno 750 GPU. Again a new promising processor in the stack.
Note:- We have gathered the data from the public domain, and if you wish to check the full specs details of each Snapdragon processor then you may visit the link here.
Conclusion
Processors that are easing out today’s challenges are the processors we want. No doubt that there are many other processor providers out there, however, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor has certainly gained its spot as the industry standard. This concludes Snapdragon’s journey in a snap! What Snapdragon processor your mobile device has and how it’s functioning? do let us know in the comments section below. If you need any help or have any suggestions to make, do reach us via the contact page here. Happy April Fools’ Day!
