Processors

Qualcomm and TSMC ready to toss 8-core chips onto the table

posted by Luis D. / May 20, 2014, 2:44 AM

Qualcomm and TSMC ready to toss 8-core chips onto the table

Qualcomm officially announced that it will begin mass-producing its first octa-core mobile SoC - the Snapdragon 615. Additionally, the 64-bit 8-core Snapdragon 810 and 6-core Snapdragon 808 will be introduced before this year's end. The Snapdragon 615 will be a mid-range processor, while the Snapdragon 808 and 810 are made for high-end smartphones.

Qualcomm's newest silicon will be made by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using an advanced 20nm process. According to industry sources, the adoption of 8-core chips will not raise smartphone prices.

There is little clue towards what the first eight-core, 64-bit smartphone on the market will be. Currently, we're awaiting the first Snapdragon 805-powered consumer device to be introduced sometime in the summer. Speculations point towards the upcoming LG G3 or the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime.

source: DigiTimes

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32 Comments

1. PRoChandra

Posts: 8; Member since: May 08, 2014

First Para is rather confusion.... Isn't it ??? 808 or 806 ???

posted on May 20, 2014, 2:55 AM 2

3. 0xFFFF

Posts: 3806; Member since: Apr 16, 2014

Qualcomm has done a great job messing up their chip numbering scheme.

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:01 AM 5

4. Peeyushmalik96

Posts: 75; Member since: Jun 08, 2013

you're right...In my opinion the 2012 naming scheme of Qualcomm processors was much better... Snapdragon S3, S4, S4 pro and all that

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:07 AM 2

9. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

I think Qualcomm drop those names because they were similar to Samsung's naming scheme, e.g. S, S2, S3,... Maybe Qualcomm should use AMD's/Nvidia's GPU naming scheme e.g. 2013 - 200, 400, 600, 800 2014 - 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800 2015 - 2200, 2400, 2600, 2800

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:26 AM 2

10. Beijendorf unregistered

Or the HTC naming scheme! 2013 - ONE 2014 - ONE 2015 - ONE

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:39 AM 21

13. Sid91 unregistered

1-one plus one 2-one plus one plus one

posted on May 20, 2014, 4:15 AM 6

14. luis.d

Posts: 354; Member since: Dec 04, 2013

It's 808, sorry for the typo.

posted on May 20, 2014, 4:59 AM 0

2. Desmortibus

Posts: 66; Member since: Apr 04, 2014

We are witnessing something truly historical here: With the introduction of the 64-bit 8-core Snapdragon 810 and 6-core Snapdragon 806, the shift from traditional computing to mobile computing will be finalized. The machines we will have then in our pocket (or in our purse) will be finally more powerful than those we have in our home or in the office... Very exciting indeed !

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:01 AM 0

6. Beijendorf unregistered

Said people who had no idea how processors and processing speed works.

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:12 AM 8

12. BattleBrat

Posts: 1476; Member since: Oct 26, 2011

Go easy on him, he's excited, but mobile processors will be starting to match some currently available X86 processors in performance.

posted on May 20, 2014, 4:14 AM 0

15. ahomad

Posts: 175; Member since: May 15, 2012

Said someone who thinks he knows everything. He is indeed right, he didn't say these chips are more powerful the the current high end (2014 i7 extreme) chipset. I am sure he meant computers with average users (few years old, med to low range chipset) and these are indeed as/ if not more powerful.

posted on May 20, 2014, 5:07 AM 1

16. Beijendorf unregistered

I never said I knew everything? And I hope you realise even the i3 processors released in Q2 2012 are more than twice as fast as the Snapdragon 800 processors. This doesn't come as a surprise since the stationary processors aren't as heavily limited by power consumption and cooling issues as the mobile processors are. That is the one and only argument required for someone to realise mobile processors will never be on par with stationary processors. And if he was indeed talking about how the very old processors are slower than the brand new processors, well... That's quite a daft thing to say. It's like saying "Finally with all my training I can run faster than a car!" "No you can't..." "Well I am talking about cars manufactured before 1885."

posted on May 20, 2014, 5:31 AM 6

19. DBounce

Posts: 169; Member since: Apr 26, 2014

I think the point is these new chips will mean that a lot of the types of task that desktop users regularly do will be possible from a smartphone or tablet. Remember most users don't come close to really utilizing the full power of their desktops. Of course some games, video editing and 3d design programs can tax a system. But those users are not the norm.

posted on May 20, 2014, 6:43 AM 0

20. ahomad

Posts: 175; Member since: May 15, 2012

sorry for being a bit aggressive in my response but I don't like when you said he knows nothing. anyway, my wife got a laptop as a gift. It is fairly new (2013) but runs intel celeron and my Xperia Z1 with SD800 is way better than this device in performing all tasks such as browsing, opening mails, gaming and even photo and video editing. this is what I meant by few years old and low end laptop (and this what I think the majority around the world have, probably not you or me or anyone in this site but we are a very tiny group of people if you looked at the world population). But I agree with you that the best smartphone chips won't come close to a good PC chipset because of several factors such as what you mentioned like power consumption and cooling system in addition to the size of the product (a smart watch won't come close to a sever not even in 1000 years)

posted on May 20, 2014, 7:44 AM 0

25. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

S801 is not even near Atom or Baytrail silvermont socs A7 E5420 To are

posted on May 20, 2014, 10:25 AM 1

32. Desmortibus

Posts: 66; Member since: Apr 04, 2014

Didn't I stated "FINALLY" ?... I am PERFECTLY aware of how processors work and of the difference between current PC processors and ARM systems on current mobile devices. Still, this kind of processing power already begins the blur the lines.... Within 4/5 years, I think it could be achieved.

posted on May 21, 2014, 4:33 AM 0

5. Peeyushmalik96

Posts: 75; Member since: Jun 08, 2013

Just one qoestion: Wiil it be samsung style (big.LITTLE) or mediatek style (true octa core)?

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:10 AM 0

8. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

The 810 has a quad core A57 and quad core A53, which means its using ARM's big.LITTLE to be more efficient True octa core CPUs aren't good for phones/tablets as they use more much power and produce more heat (assuming all 8 cores are running) Also most apps don't even use all four cores yet, the four other cores would be rested most the time any way

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:22 AM 0

24. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

Looks like you love or your a Cpu fan like me

posted on May 20, 2014, 10:23 AM 0

7. JMartin22

Posts: 2369; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

big.LITTLE, supposedly, all 8 cores can be homogeneous.

posted on May 20, 2014, 3:18 AM 1

11. rockers123

Posts: 137; Member since: Sep 08, 2013

Qualcomm once said, Octa core is a PR Stunt and also said 64bit is pontless. Now shamelessly ripping.

posted on May 20, 2014, 4:04 AM 2

22. grahaman27

Posts: 364; Member since: Apr 05, 2013

They are right. But just because 8 core is marketing, doesn't mean it sells, especially in China where everyone counts cores. 64bit doesn't matter either, but you won't be able to sell a 32bit chip in 2015 since everyone expects 64bit.

posted on May 20, 2014, 9:08 AM 1

28. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

It does matter the higher the band with and bigger the Cpu die is the better the actual overall resource performance

posted on May 20, 2014, 11:23 AM 0

29. grahaman27

Posts: 364; Member since: Apr 05, 2013

what?

posted on May 20, 2014, 11:37 AM 0

17. GreekGeek

Posts: 1276; Member since: Mar 22, 2014

Octacores for those bloated benchmark numbers, lol

posted on May 20, 2014, 5:35 AM 1

18. Amir1 unregistered

sources contradicting eachother... Q4 flagships will carry S805 or S810? wondering.

posted on May 20, 2014, 5:59 AM 0

21. ojdidit84

Posts: 462; Member since: Jul 16, 2011

A buddy of mine works for Qualcomm here in SD. He says that they don't even have any phones for testing the SD810 yet. He said that at this point, we wouldn't see any SD810 phones until Q1 '15.

posted on May 20, 2014, 8:59 AM 1

23. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

And Samsung and Apple already using A15 Socs Quallcom is way behind They don't even have a A15 Cpu yet. Still relying on old A9 Cortex 2012 Soc And everyone loves Snapdragon Even their Scorpion Cpu was weak comparing to Eyxnos and Apples A4

posted on May 20, 2014, 10:21 AM 0

26. ojdidit84

Posts: 462; Member since: Jul 16, 2011

That's all good and well but... What does any of this have to do with him asking about SD805 or SD810 for Q4 flagships? And apparently they're not way behind. They do well with their own chipsets with ARM instructions. They've always only used their own designs just using ARM instructions. Yes, Scorpion was pretty darn bad but you'd be hard pressed to find anything that performs as well on the Android platform AND include everything else (ie. LTE radio) in the same package.