Qualcomm, a few days ago, announced the successor of its flagship Snapdragon 865 SoC, the new Snapdragon 888, at the Qualcomm Tech Summit. And many of the OEMs are already announcing and teasing their flagship smartphones with the new Snapdragon 888. Although Qualcomm usually named their flagship SoC in 8×5 nomenclature, this time, Qualcomm took a different path and announced 888 instead of 875. Many countries like China, consider the number 8 as lucky, so Qualcomm named it 888, that means “triple-luck”.
“Qualcomm’s history of breakthrough technology inventions has paved the way for our continued leadership in the premium-tier mobile segment,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile, compute and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The new flagship Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform will enable OEMs to further differentiate their devices and allows users to experience the latest cutting-edge mobile technologies.”
Snapdragon 888: Key Specs
| SoC | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 888 |
| CPU | 1x Cortex-A77 @ 2.84GHz 1x512KB pL23x Cortex-A77 @ 2.42GHz 3x256KB pL24x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL24MB sL3 |
1x Cortex-X1 @ 2.84GHz 1x1024KB pL2 3x Cortex-A78 @ 2.42GHz 3x512KB pL2 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL24MB sL3 |
| GPU | Adreno 650 @ 587 MHz | Adreno 660 @?MHz
+35% perf |
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 698
15 TOPS AI |
Hexagon 780
26 TOPS AI |
| Memory Controller |
4x 16-bit CH
@ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB/s 3MB system level cache |
4x 16-bit CH
@ 3200MHz LPDDR5 / 51.2GB/s 3MB system level cache |
| ISP/Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP
1x 200MP or 64MP with ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst capture |
Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP
1x 200MP or 84MP with ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst capture |
| Encode/ Decode |
8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265
Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording |
8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265
Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording |
| Integrated Modem | none (Paired with external X55 only)(LTE Category 24/22) DL = 2500 Mbps 7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM(5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 7000 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps |
X60 integrated
(LTE Category 24/22) (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) |
| MFC. Process | TSMC 7nm (N7P) |
Samsung 5nm (5LPE) |
Upcoming Flagship Smartphones with Snapdragon 888
1. Asus
Asus with its ROG Phone series always tries for the best available in the market. As ROG Phone 3 was powered by the Snapdragon 865+ which was best at that time, so why not the latest and most powerful Snapdragon 888 with the next-generation ROG Phone series, maybe the ROG Phone 4. If speaking more specifically, the General Manager of Phone segment already confirmed in an official video that its next-generation ROG Phone will be using the brand new SoC available, that simply means, the Snapdragon 888.
2. Black Shark
If you already don’t know, Black Shark is another named under Xiaomi, focused on gaming smartphones only. We have already seen two different generations of the brand, but for some unknown reasons, it wasn’t a great hit even in the initial phase of the gaming smartphone industry. And now, where we have a few tough competitions like Asus’ ROG Phone, Lenovo’s Legion Phone, etc in the market, it will be even more though to survive in the market, if they don’t go with the latest and powerful, so we are expecting Black Shark 3 and 3 Pro with the Snapdragon 888 SoC.
3. LG
“Soon enough, we’ll be able to share more about LG’s 2021 devices that take advantage of this new Snapdragon 888 mobile platform,” said LG executive Matthew Crowley.
As the Korean Company have been using flagship SoC for a while now, so we can expect the new Snapdragon 888 SoC in one of their flagship smartphones, maybe the V-series, more specifically the LG V50, although there is a huge possibility of the rollable smartphones LG have been working for a while now, could feature the new flagship SoC too.
4. Nubia and ZTE
Nubia and the sub-brand ZTE is known as value-focused smartphone brands in the market, they always focus on the best specification with the least cost possible. The latest leaked banner claims that Nubia is working on its Z-series smartphone with the latest Snapdragon, although we don’t any type of information regarding the new Z-series smartphone other than that it will be powered by the latest Qualcomm flagship SoC.
From previous leaks and rumors, we might have a prediction that Nubia Z20 will be the first smartphone from Nubia to be equipped with the latest Snapdragon 888 SoC. And speaking of ZTE, the company already confirmed that they are working on the ZTE Axon 30 with the latest Snapdragon 888 SoC.
5. OnePlus
OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro are widely expected to launch with the Snapdragon 888 SoC within the half of 2021. We recently found OnePlus 9 Pro renders that reveal the phone’s possible design and specifications tipped to incorporate a 6.67-inch curved display, 120Hz refresh rate, and punch-hole cut out for the selfie camera.
The smartphone is predicted to run Android 11-based OxygenOS out of the box. The phone should also accompany the new 65W fast-charging solution, but the battery capacity remains a mystery.
6. Oppo
Oppo’s Find series have always been appreciated for the best and out-of-the-box specs. The predecessor Oppo Find X2 Pro was a great hit in the South Asian countries with a ton of great specifications. Although the company confirmed that Oppo Find X3 will be the first smartphone from the company to have the latest Snapdragon 888 SoC.
Other than that, it may feature Full-path Color Management System, which can be the primary Android color management system to support a full DCI-P3 wide color gamut alongside a 10-bit color depth.
7. Realme
Realme is additionally within the race to be among the primary phone makers to launch a Snapdragon 888-powered device and it’s code-named Realme Race. The smartphone is predicted to deliver blazing-fast performance and gaming experience. Realme Race India launch plans are revealed by the vice-chairman and India CEO Madhav Sheth.
The smartphone’s design is probably going to be almost like the OnePlus 7T with a curved rear panel and a circular camera module which will house four camera sensors. Realme Race specifications haven’t been announced officially yet, but per rumors, they’re said to incorporate 12GB of RAM, 256GB storage, and Android 10-based Realme UI 2.0. That’s all we all know so far!
8. Xiaomi
Xiaomi will be the first OEM to adopt the new SoC with its Mi 11 series. Xiaomi has already confirmed the Mi 11 series with the Snapdragon 888 SoC. Even a Xiaomi Official also posted a short clip on the Chinese Microblogging Site Weibo, claiming Mi 11 series to be the first smartphone with the new Qualcomm’s flagship SoC.
Other than Mi-series, Xiaomi Redmi K-series is also known for its value-focused nature, we have seen a couple of K-series smartphones with the latest flagship SoC available in the market, so there is no harm in expecting the K-40 series with Snapdragon 888 SoC.
9. Motorola and Lenovo
“2021 will mark the 10th generation of Moto G, and nothing would make us prouder than bringing 800-series experiences to this family,” Motorola mobile chief Sergio Bunac noted in a video.
One of the more interesting announcements came from Motorola because it confirmed that the Snapdragon 888 is going to be coming to its devices next year. That wasn’t the interesting part though, because the firm had some notable news for the Moto G family in 2021.
Other than Motorola, Lenovo the parent company also working on Snapdragon 888 powered smartphones on their 2nd-gen gaming smartphones, i.e., Legion Gaming Phone.
10. Other Smartphones
These weren’t the only smartphones that are working with the latest Snapdragon 888 SoC, but also companies like Red Magic, Vivo, SHARP, and Meizu are also working on it.
While the official Qualcomm Tech Summit, the company showed its official partner in the Snapdragon 888, that these brands will be announcing their flagship smartphones with Snapdragon by next year.
