Qualcomm was supposedly getting ready to release the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 with a target speed of 4.0GHz. But since Apple’s M4 came out with a really fast clock speed and great performance on individual tasks, Qualcomm is now reworking the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
This upcoming update to the main Android chip is set to be completed in June. It’s rumored to aim for a speed of 4.26 GHz. This adjustment will help Qualcomm compete with Apple’s A18 and A18 Pro chips found in iPhones, which have faster clock speeds. Apple’s A-series chips are essentially smaller versions of M-series chips.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is anticipated to boost how fast one task can be done with its main speed aimed at 4.26GHz. It’s also rumored to have a setup where two parts work really fast and six parts work together, which could make it better at handling lots of tasks at once.
The Apple M4 chip is based on TSMC’s 3nm process and Qualcomm is said to use the same process for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which would make for some tight competition between the two, at least in terms of benchmark performance.
Just as Apple’s A-series chips are based on downscaled M-series versions, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will also be based on the Snapdragon X Elite meant for laptops and does not support the ARMv9 instructions set.
One benefit of the M4 chip compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is its ability to use Scalable Matrix Extension (SME). This feature helps it manage tougher jobs, which is why it can achieve better results in tests. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 doesn’t have SME, so its faster speed is probably meant to make up for that.
