Qualcomm launches two new smartphone chips with emphasis on AI

Qualcomm unveiled two cutting-edge smartphone processors, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, at its recent Snapdragon Summit. The primary focus of these new chips is to enhance AI capabilities in mobile devices.

The new sensing hubs integrated into these chips enable smartphones to run smaller models with up to 200 million parameters locally. This allows for personalized AI agents, such as a personal scribe that can differentiate between speakers and build usage-based memories for more efficient task automation. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 even supports running a complete voice-in and voice-out agent through the chip.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 features an accelerator element designed to run models more efficiently. In contrast, the Extreme version boasts the ability to run a 30 billion parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model locally, with only a fraction of parameters activated for specific tasks. This makes the Extreme version significantly more powerful than Apple's 20-billion-parameter model unveiled during its WWDC.

In terms of camera capabilities, the Extreme version supports video recording at 8K60fps and 4K240fps for ultra-HD slow-motion. This chip also enables the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for professional-grade recording. Both chips can leverage AI to improve vocals and reduce noise during calls, while also offering Qualcomm's new voice bubble technology that isolates users' voices during conversations.

Motorola has already announced its Motorola Signature 27 smartphone, which will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. The company plans to release this device sometime this year. Qualcomm has been actively developing over 40 AI devices, and industry experts believe that many consumers will rely on their smartphones for AI tasks rather than using dedicated devices. This trend was further reinforced by Apple CEO John Ternus during the iPhone Duo launch earlier this month.