Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G Compute Platform Offers 50% Greater Performance, Longer Battery Life

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G processor was launched last year for always-on always-connected PC and delivers a similar performance of 15W Intel Comet Lake processors with much lower power consumption enabling 20+ hours battery life.

The company has now an update with Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G Compute Platform with 50% greater system-wide performance and battery life versus “competing solutions”. More on that later.

Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G specifications with the differences against the first generation in bold or ~~stricken-through~~:

CPU – 8x Qualcomm Kryo 495 64-bit cores 7nm Process Technology
Visual Subsystem – Qualcomm Adreno GPU with DX12 support
Memory – LPDDR4x, 8 Channels up to 2133 MHz
Storage – NVMe SSD, UFS3.0
Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine
- Qualcomm Hexagon 690 DSP (was 685)
- Qualcomm Sensing Hub technology
- ~~Qualcomm All-Ways Aware technology~~
Display
- Maximum On-Device Display Support: 4K Ultra HD
- Dual 4K external displays support over DP-MST
Audio
- Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
- Qualcomm TrueWireless technology
- Qualcomm Broadcast Audio technology
- Qualcomm aptX audio technology: aptX Classic, aptX HD
- ~~Surround Sound Audio~~
- ~~Speaker Protection~~
Camera
- Image Signal Processor: Dual 14-bit ISPs, Qualcomm Spectra 390 image
  signal processor
- 4K HDR video capture
- Single HFR 16 MPix camera at 60fps ZSL (Zero Shutter Lag)
- Dual 16 MP cameras
- Single 32 MP camera
- 4K HDR decode at 120fps
- Codec Support: H.265 (HEVC), VP9, and H.264
Modems
- Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 Modem-RF System
  - Peak Download Speed – 7 Gbps
  - Peak Upload Speed – 3 Gbps
  - Sub-6 GHz and mmWave
  - Modes – FDD, TDD, SA (standalone), NSA (non-standalone)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE Modem Category 20
  - Peak Download Speed – 2 Gbps
  - Peak Upload Speed – 316 Mbps
  - Supported Cellular Technologies: LTE FDD, LTE TDD including CBRS support, LAA, LTE Broadcast, WCDMA (DB-DC-HSDPA, DC-HSUPA), TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE
WiFi
- WiFi Standards: 802.11ax (WiFi 6), 802.11ad, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n
- WiFi Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz
- MIMO Configuration: 2×2 (2-stream)
Other Wireless Connectivity
- Bluetooth 5.1
- ~~Near Field Communications (NFC)~~
- Location
  - Global Emergency Services: Assisted GPS, OTDOA (LTE-based positioning)
  - Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS
USB – USB 3.1
Charging – Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology

The parts that are stricken-through are probably not removed from the chip, and simply not listed in the specs. The second-generation processor has virtually no visible differences except for support for a new Hexagon DSP, WiFi 6 connectivity, and the Bluetooth version has been bumped to 5.1. That’s probably why the company did not bother comparing Gen 1 vs Gen 2, and instead only offered charts comparing it to 7W and 15W Intel processors.

The 15W Intel Core i5 processor is probably a Comet Lake processor such as Intel Core i5-10210U, and the 7W Hybrid Core i5 is clearly an Intel Core i5-L16G7 Lakefield processor. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G is up to 51% faster than Lakefield processor, and 18% faster than the Comet Lake processor, while also offering higher efficiency.

The Acer Spin 7 will be the world’s first notebook powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform. The laptop will feature a 14-inch FHD display, ship with a dockable Wacom AES 1.0 pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and weight around 1.4 kg.

That’s about all we know about the laptop right now, but we’ll find out more soon since it’s slated to launch before the end of the year.

More details may be found on the press release and product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.