Qualcomm has officially announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform today, and among the improvements the chipset brings over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, GPU performance is getting a significant increase in its performance capabilities.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform has long been the standard when it comes to peak mobile gaming. Often boasting impressive mobile gaming performance in a number of ways. From enhanced ray-tracing effects to general top-tier graphics performance across the board compared to the competition. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm is promising some genuinely intriguing stats for gamers.
For example, ray-tracing performance on the Snapdragon 8 Elite saw an increase of 35%. For gamers, that should mean noticeably enhanced ray-traced lighting effects in mobile games. Things like better reflections on surfaces such as puddles of water on the ground, better shadows, and more pronounced lighting overall that better mimics the way light would behave in the real world.
Granted, not all mobile games make use of ray-tracing. It’s also worth mentioning that it could be a little while before gamers see any titles available that make use of these new hardware features. Nevertheless, it’s an exciting prospect in the realm of mobile gaming. Which has not only grown to be the most popular gaming platform globally but has quickly been closing the gap between console and PC game quality and what’s capable on mobile devices.
GPU performance on the Snapdragon 8 Elite is increased by 40%
While ray-tracing performance specifically will be a nice improvement for mobile games going forward, it’s Qualcomm’s statement about the raw GPU performance boost that’s a little more attention-grabbing. Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 8 Elite has an increase in GPU performance by 40%. This is compared to the GPU performance on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which we saw in phones like the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition.
What this means for the gamer is better overall performance in their games. Mobile games will be able to both look and run better with the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s enhanced Adreno GPU. So potentially less lag and just a generally smoother gameplay experience. As well as higher-fidelity graphics. Consumers will get to see these increases in a handful of devices that have already been announced. Including the ROG Phone 9 series, which ASUS announced this afternoon.
Power consumption has been decreased as well
Another big improvement for the new Snapdragon 8 Elite is power consumption. Despite the powerhouse performance of the GPU in phones like the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition, one area that can always use improvement is power consumption. If you’re playing mobile games, especially demanding ones, these can be a heavy battery drainer. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite, power consumption has been reduced by 40%.
What that will boil down to is a battery inside these new phones that will last longer during gaming sessions. How much longer will depend on the game. Not to mention other factors that consume battery power like display brightness. Still, it likely means companies like ASUS will be able to do more with less. Potentially squeezing out more battery life without having to increase the battery size or capacity. And thereby not having to increase the thickness of the device to accommodate a larger battery.
It’s these kinds of tech improvements that can make computing exciting for the mobile gamer. Because who doesn’t love the capability to play games for longer?
