Making sense of Qualcomm phone CPUs
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
You may have heard of the "Qualcomm Snapdragon." It's the brand name for Qualcomm's mobile CPUs. There's a lot of equity in that name, as most Android enthusiasts know it well. From there, though, their marketing falls more or less flat on its face: there have actually been three, and soon four, generations of Snapdragon, each faster and more advanced than the last. And each generation of Snapdragon has a dizzying array of model numbers like "MSM8660" or "QSD8260," which only mean something to phone nerds like me.
Today, Qualcomm has dramatically simplified their portfolio into four names: the Qualcom S1, S2, S3 and S4.
The S1 is the first-generation 1GHz Snapdragon that debuted in the EVO 4G, Nexus One and Desire HD (to name a few). It goes up to 1.3GHz (officially), and uses the Adreno 200 GPU.
The S2 is (you probably guessed) the second-generation Snapdragon found in devices like the T-Mobile G2 or the HTC Thunderbolt. It goes up to 1.4GHz (officially) and uses the Adreno 205 GPU. The S2 is quite a bit faster than its predecessor.
The S3 is the current gold standard for Qualcomm, found in devices like the HTC Sensation and HTC EVO 3D. The first dual core Snapdragon, it officially scales to 1.5GHz and features the Adreno 220 GPU. It is considerably faster than any of its predecessors.
The S4 is unreleased, but will start arriving at the end of the year. It's an entirely new dual core architecture with initial support for 1.7GHz, and long-term support for quad core/2.5GHz designs. For the especially technical, it's Qualcomm's first 28nm architecture, meaning better battery life, lower power consumption, lower heat and more performance. The dual core parts use the Adreno 225 GPU, and the quad cores will use the Adreno 300 Series.
For more salient technical details, Engadget has a nice writeup on the change. I have also updated the future phone comparison thread to reflect this new branding.
Today, Qualcomm has dramatically simplified their portfolio into four names: the Qualcom S1, S2, S3 and S4.
The S1 is the first-generation 1GHz Snapdragon that debuted in the EVO 4G, Nexus One and Desire HD (to name a few). It goes up to 1.3GHz (officially), and uses the Adreno 200 GPU.
The S2 is (you probably guessed) the second-generation Snapdragon found in devices like the T-Mobile G2 or the HTC Thunderbolt. It goes up to 1.4GHz (officially) and uses the Adreno 205 GPU. The S2 is quite a bit faster than its predecessor.
The S3 is the current gold standard for Qualcomm, found in devices like the HTC Sensation and HTC EVO 3D. The first dual core Snapdragon, it officially scales to 1.5GHz and features the Adreno 220 GPU. It is considerably faster than any of its predecessors.
The S4 is unreleased, but will start arriving at the end of the year. It's an entirely new dual core architecture with initial support for 1.7GHz, and long-term support for quad core/2.5GHz designs. For the especially technical, it's Qualcomm's first 28nm architecture, meaning better battery life, lower power consumption, lower heat and more performance. The dual core parts use the Adreno 225 GPU, and the quad cores will use the Adreno 300 Series.
For more salient technical details, Engadget has a nice writeup on the change. I have also updated the future phone comparison thread to reflect this new branding.
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