Qualcomm Inc. unveiled its Snapdragon 835 on Jan. 3, Tuesday, at CES 2017, describing it as a "connected device" chip. The company also said that the 10 nanometer chip can potentially be utilized in other devices other than smartphones.
According to the Verge, the Snapdragon 835 includes technology that will push the performance of upcoming smartphones a notch higher, prompting device makers and consumers to upgrade their handsets. The chip comes with features designed to support VR, improved battery life, and more versatility.
Snapdragon 835's powerhouse hangs on a Kryo 280 CPU with four performance cores, which can run up to 2.45 GHz, plus four efficiency cores that run up to 1.9 GHz. It also has a Snapdragon X16 LTE modem that supports Category 16 LTE along with Category 13 LTE upload speeds.
The most exciting part is the chip's fast charging technology, tagged quick charge 4.0. This version is fully compatible with the latest USB Type-C standards and charges 20 times faster than the previous Quick charge 3.0.
Not only that, it comes with protection tech against overcharging. To know just how powerful Quick Charge 4.0 is, Qualcomm claims that one can get 5 hours of use from 5 minutes of charge.
For battery life, the Snapdragon 835 is a power saver. Qualcomm claims that its latest chip has a whopping 50 percent power reduction compared to the snapdragon 801, thanks to its 10 nm technology. The secret to this development lies in its capabilities of allowing thinner phones with larger batteries.
In addition to excellent power management, it supports improved sound processing and sharper 3D graphics rendering with 60 times more colors. This means that the 835 has more VR and augmented reality capabilities than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 820.
The 835 is also the first Snapdragon chip to support Ultra HD 4K Premium video playback. It includes enhanced image capture, better autofocus technologies, electronic image stabilization during video capture, and native support for optical zoom systems.
Being an undersized ship, the Snapdragon 835 will allow its installation in internet-connected devices and expand ventures for Qualcomm. The company has in the past relied on the Smartphone market to sell its Snapdragon processors, exposing it to the slowing growth of phone shipments in the recent times.
Snapdragon 835's flexibility has already attracted several companies like Osterhout Design Group. The firm told Wall street Journal on Jan 3, Tuesday, that its latest breed of smart glasses will use Qualcomm's latest chip. The chip maker's senior vice president of automotive Patrick Little also highlighted the company's potential in-car technologies in future at CES 2017.
The capabilities of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 will be pronounced when the first devices launch with it later this year. Watch the video below for benchmarks: