Set micro-network news (text / Xiaobei) This year, Qualcomm launched a new Snapdragon 700 series, which is positioned between the Snapdragon 600 series and the Snapdragon 800 series, 'inheriting' the advanced features of many 800 series. Cost competitiveness is an important measure for Qualcomm to maintain and stabilize its position in the middle and high-end processors. At the end of May this year, the first Snapdragon 700 series chip 710 came out. Now, there is a breaking news that the Snapdragon 720 can be used in an unprecedented case. The Qualcomm SoC's description, the chip has made significant changes in improving AI performance, will be added to the NPU neural network computing unit.
Unlike competitors such as HiSilicon, Qualcomm's AI capabilities are not derived from independent AI hardware units, such as NPUs, computing units, etc., but are integrated into the artificial intelligence engine (AIE) on the Snapdragon platform, through heterogeneous computing. In this way, different modules such as CPU/GPU/DSP are matched to each other, and the workload is arranged according to different application scenarios. In other words, the integrated solution emphasized by Snapdragon AI core is based on the Hexagon vector processor. , Adreno GPU and Kryo CPU .
It is worth noting that Adreno GPU has always been the advantage of Qualcomm processors. Industry insiders said that Qualcomm has been keeping its GPU architecture secret, and basically can not find specific technical specifications, on each generation of flagship mobile processor chips, Qualcomm Adreno's performance is better than Arm Mali series. This should be one of the important reasons for Qualcomm's integrated solution. After all, GPU plays an important role in AI computing. Foreign media said that so far, Snapdragon processors have passed Adreno GPU for machine learning management, its effect is very good, but it is slightly inferior to Huawei's solution (Kirin processor NPU solution).
AI computing with integrated or separate solutions has been the focus of debate in the industry. Qualcomm experts have said that the highly integrated AI architecture design can achieve a better balance in performance, power consumption and other aspects.
And now it is rumored that the Snapdragon 720 will join the NPU neural network computing unit. If the rumors are true, this will be a major change in Qualcomm's chip. It is not difficult to guess, given Qualcomm's leadership in the industry, future discrete solutions are also expected Become the mainstream.
The news broke the news and did not disclose the specific specifications of the Snapdragon 720, but interestingly, there was a parameter exposure on the Snapdragon 730, which claimed to be manufactured using the Samsung 8nm LPP process (10nm upgrade), integrating two Kryo 4xx 2.3 GHz, six Kryo 4xx 1.8GHz CPU cores, and equipped with NPU 120 units.
From the model point of view, the Xiaolong 720 and the Xiaolong 730 will be the successors of the Xiaolong 710. Both the Xiaolong 720 and the Xiaolong 730 have mentioned the independent NPU unit. Qualcomm may be brewing an AI. The change of the program.
In addition, it is reported that at least three mobile phone manufacturers are currently developing the Snapdragon 720 model, of which Samsung is expected to win the first launch, and is a brand new Galaxy series.