Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

 Qualcomm bets on AI to take Google apples and chips

In a press release received by Nuansatech, Apple has been in its own league when it comes to the development of a processor for cellphones and instills its own AI-powered experience.

 

But this year, Google has thrown a hat on the ring by debuting the indigenous tensor chip to provide a Pixel 6 platform to showcase the company's vision for smartphones.

 

The massive encouragement by this technology giant into the chip game means that Qualcomm, so leading players in the smartphone industry, will face more competition than before. So, this year, Chipmaker is very dependent on AI to provide a new processor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a little more personality.

 

The company introduced the Qualcomm AI-7th Gen Computing Engine, which was four times faster than its predecessor.

 

The chipmaker claims that the new unit is stronger because it will double the shared memory and tensor accelerator doubled for AI related operations. Plus, battery efficiency 2.8 times better than the Snapdragon 888 flagship processor this year.

 

And besides, there are new 3rd-sensing units that can activate very low-powered voice and connectivity experiences.

 

So now after we see the new AI Chip specification, let's see what it means for telephone makers, developers, and consumers.

 

What can the new AI unit do?

VINESH Sukumar, Head of Product Management AI / ML in Qualcomm, said the new AI unit can handle more workloads easily. The company developed a demonstration with ArcSoft video imaging companies, where cellphone prototypes based on Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 can simultaneously detect face and apply the effects of bokeh's face.

 

Sukumar said that new technology allows software to detect more than 20 points on the face, so that the application maker can apply the effect even when there is a bad perspective or small display field.

 

New Hub senses allowing chips to always be on camera experience for facial detection and object while consuming low power.

 

There is also a new 'always safe' module in a hub sensing that allows the application to make financial transactions in a safer way.

 

Why does Qualcomm partner with companies for various experiences?

Until now, Qualcomm chips usually provide telephone makers with canvas to draw their own paintings. While it was still possible, this year, the company partnered with many companies to provide a different AI experience a little more talent.

 

First, for an enhanced-camera experience, including charming black and white shots and the effects of bokeh, Qualcomm partnered with the German imaging company Leica. Previously working with producers such as Huawei and Xiaomi. But this is a rare opportunity when a chipmaker works with the camera maker exclusively.

 

Sukumar said Leica's camera maker was the main partner in developing AI to capture high-quality and solid images with great spatial details. He said that this technology would increase the dynamic range and clarity in the image.

 

Qualcomm also partnered with the Asante Health Organization to show off applications that record your voice for 30 seconds and detect stress levels, asthma conditions, and even Covid-19.

 

This is not fully novel: Israel vocalist startup has achieved similar achievements with the application, but in the case of Qualcomm, all processing is done locally to maintain the privacy of users to remain intact.

 

One of the most important partnerships is to embrace the face, open-source startup that works on a language-based machine-learning model. Qualcomm Demoed Smart Assistant that uses sentiment analysis to classify the most important notifications for you. Plus, you can see a summary of notifications based on their priorities.

 

The assistant can also answer questions like "Where is my dinner meeting?" And "When do I have to go?"

 

All of this reminds me of Google Assistant. But Vice President and Head of the AI ​​Qualcomm software, Jeff Gehlhaar, told me that this partnership would bring a portfolio to use a broader use case. I would be very interested in seeing the assistant who had a better ability than Google Assistant, so just take it to Qualcomm.

 

What's in it for the developer?

Qualcomm said this year, it introduced support for mixed precision instructions in the SDK, so the developer can make the AI ​​model they run faster when using less memory.

 

However, the biggest change is to introduce the search for nerve architecture (NAS) for Qualcomm chips. NAS allows data scientists to optimize models for certain hardware without training them manually. They can also place constraints on the size of the model or other parameters based on use cases.

 

Chipmaker partnered with Google Cloud to provide the backbone for this NAS offer. Qualcomm will use the Google Vertex AI solution for managed machine learning, so the developer can train their models easily.

 

This partnership will allow developers to set up their models not only for cellular but for XR, IOT, and automotive Qualcomm solutions as well.

 

Battle with Apple, Samsung, and Google

Apple always has its own chip on its iPhone, while Samsung uses a mixture of custom exons processors and Qualcomm Snapdragon processors for their devices.

 

This year, Google waste Qualcomm for the first time, so that competition in the chip market must heat up.

 

The giant chip based in the US needs to show its processor that is capable as Apple, Samsung, or Google, if not better. And for that, it puts the responsibility for his AI meat.

 

It would be extraordinary to see companies like Oneplus, Samsung, or Xiaomi using Qualcomm's new equipment to issue AI experiences that we have never seen on an iPhone or pixel. Game on!