It’s been almost two years since Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8cx, its flagship ARM processor for Windows laptops, but at IFA 2020, the company is unveiling its successor: the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, which promises some additional improvements over the original.
Qualcomm hasn’t been too specific about the specific performance improvements the 8cx Gen 2 will offer over its predecessor, not to mention that it will deliver “generational performance and efficiency gains.”
However Qualcomm very interested in demonstrating that the new 8cx Gen 2 chipset is more than capable of keeping up with traditional Intel systems. He claims the 8cx Gen 2 offers significant performance gains over both a comparable 10th Gen Core i5 chip from Intel and Intel Lakefield chips (which are intended to directly challenge Qualcomm’s laptop manufacturing efforts and even use a similar hybrid core system.)
8cx Gen 2 also offers improved battery life, with Qualcomm promising not only a full day on a single charge, but more than 25 hours of continuous use, which is enough for “a few days of battery life” – an impressive achievement if we assume that is true. … keeps in the real world.
Other new 8cx Gen 2 features include native Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 support, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology (which is used for “echo cancellation and noise reduction”), and support for two external 4K monitors at 60fps. … There are also more vague promises of advanced AI capabilities that should include more features such as Eye contact function Surface Pro Xas well as improved security features for business and corporate clients.
Despite the addition of “5G” to the name, 8cx Gen 2 doesn’t really repeat itself very much in the connectivity area: it offers the same X24 LTE modem and X55 5G Modem options like the original 8cx, but it’s up to the manufacturers to decide whether to offer one or the other.
The updated chips have come as Qualcomm is looking to leverage its strengths with 5G laptops. Although 8cx was announced in December 2018, first 5G laptops just started arriving this year, and as my colleague Cameron Faulkner pointed out in his Lenovo Flex 5G reviewWhile battery life on these machines is really phenomenal, things like app support are still missing for ARM-based Windows computers. In addition, Qualcomm is about to face new competition: Samsung has already announced the Galaxy Book Flex 5G, powered by 11th Gen Intel chips and built on Samsung’s own 5G modem.
Qualcomm expects the first 8cx Gen 2 5G devices to arrive later this year, starting with Acer Spin 7which was announced alongside the new chipset (and will also be the first Acer 5G computer).
