The Snapdragon 870 is a sub-flagship mobile platform launched by Qualcomm in 2021, which is an upgraded version based on the Snapdragon 865 PlusIt mainly increased the super core frequency of the CPU, reaching 32GHz, powerful performance. Snapdragon 870 is favored by many mobile phone manufacturers in 2021, such as Xiaomi, OnePlus, iQOO, Motorola, etc., all of which have launched mobile phone products equipped with Snapdragon 870, which are also relatively close to the people, attracting many consumers to buy.
However, with the arrival of 2024, later, Qualcomm has launched two new flagship-level mobile platforms, namely Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3. Both platforms have achieved comprehensive upgrades in terms of performance, process, AI, ISP, baseband, etc., which have obvious advantages over the Snapdragon 870 and also bring more possibilities for innovation and functionality for mobile phone manufacturers. So, is it necessary for users of the Snapdragon 870 to change phones? It may be that for most users who don't play big games, the performance improvement of the processor will not be able to impress them for a long time, but for the vast majority of users who are looking for new features, the AI performance improvement of Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is still very attractive to them!
I'll start with the AI aspect, Snapdragon 8Gen2 and Snapdragon 8Gen3 use Qualcomm's sixth- and seventh-generation AI engines, compared with the fifth-generation AI engine of Snapdragon 870, the computing power has increased by more than 12 times, reaching 67Tops and 89Tops. Both Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 support a variety of generative AI models, such as smart voice assistants from major mobile phone manufacturers, which can achieve large models with more than 10 billion running parameters and execute up to 20 tokens per second. The AI capabilities of Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 can bring more features and experiences to mobile phones, such as AI filters, AI super resolution, AI signal enhancement, AI head tracking, AI everything focusing, AI ** background blurring, AI voice recognition, AI translation, AI assistant, etc. The Snapdragon 870, on the other hand, has relatively limited AI capabilities to support these new functions and features.
And then there's the ISP aspect:Both the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8GN3 use Qualcomm's latest cognitive ISP, which is a drastic change from the Snapdragon 870's Spectra 480 ISP. Both the Snapdragon 8Gen2 and Snapdragon 8GN3 ISPs adopt a triple ISP+18bit design, supporting 30-in-10 K HDR10+** recording, 100 million pixel zero-delay shutter and other functions, which can bring higher photo quality and more photo play. The ISP of the Snapdragon 870 only has a single ISP+14bit design, which cannot support these functions and cannot fully realize the potential of the camera module.
It can be said that the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 have significant advantages in all aspects, and the Snapdragon 870 is not a rival at all. And these functions are exactly where the development trend and demand of current and future smartphones lies. AI can bring more intelligent experiences to mobile phones, such as director mode, alarm, voice assistant, face recognition, scene recognition, translation, filters, and so on. Moreover, for the gaming party, Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 also support ray tracing, which can bring more realistic light and shadow effects to mobile games, improving the immersion and picture quality of the game. These features have high performance and energy efficiency requirements for the processor, which can be easily met by Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3, while Snapdragon 870 may encounter bottlenecks and difficulties.
Therefore, for Snapdragon 870 users, if they want to enjoy more AI features and ray-traced games, then a replacement is necessary. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Snap Dragon 8 Gen 3 phones will bring users stronger performance and better experience, while maintaining high power efficiency and battery life. Of course, if it's just for daily use, and you don't have to change your phone if you don't pursue the highest performance and the latest features. After all, the Snapdragon 870 is not a weak chicken, and it can still run smoothly for most daily applications and games.