Snapdragon (processor)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snapdragon
Production: since 2007
Producer: Qualcomm
Processor clock: 528 MHz to 2.7 GHz
Microarchitecture : POOR

Snapdragon refers to a system-on-a-chip family from Qualcomm whose main processor components are based on the ARM architecture . The Snapdragon SoCs are optimized for low power consumption and battery operation . Mobile computers such as smartphones , tablets and smartwatches as well as embedded systems in automobiles and in entertainment electronics are intended as areas of application. The first SoC of the Snapdragon family was presented with the MSM7225 model in February 2007. In 2019, Snapdragon processors had a 36% market share in smartphones.

Model numbers and classification

The SoCs of the Snapdragon family are uniquely identified by a model number assigned by Qualcomm. It is usually seven digits long and consists of three capital letters at the beginning, followed by four digits. The letter codes MSM and QSD refer to the integration of a cellular modem , while the code APQ denotes SoCs without cellular modem. On some models, the four-digit number is followed by a two-digit letter code to identify, for example, the timing variants of the SoC. For marketing purposes , Qualcomm decided in 2011 to divide the already numerous SoC models of the Snapdragon family into performance classes. Initially, the classes System 1 (short: S1 ) to System 4 (short: S4 ) were created. Class S1 comprised Snapdragon SoCs for simple "mass market smartphones" , Class S2 SoCs for "high-performance smartphones and tablets". The S3 class SoCs were intended for “multitasking and advanced gaming applications”. Class S4 was reserved for the purpose of "next generation devices" and was later subdivided again. So in 2012 the model series S4 Play , S4 Plus , S4 Pro and S4 Prime were created . In 2013 Qualcomm introduced a new classification scheme and announced that it would subdivide the Snapdragon models to be released in the future into the Snapdragon 200 , Snapdragon 400 , Snapdragon 600 and Snapdragon 800 product lines, depending on their performance and intended use . Snapdragon 200 stands for the lower end of the performance spectrum, Snapdragon 800 for the upper end. In the meantime, Qualcomm has started to introduce marketing-friendly names for individual SoC models. For example, MSM8994 from the Snapdragon 800 series is marketed under the name Snapdragon 810 .

Technical details

Housing of the MSM8225 (S4 Play)

The main processors (CPUs) used are both IP cores licensed by ARM and our own designs based on ARM architectures v7 and v8. The IP cores ARM926EJ-S , ARM1136EJ-S , Cortex-A5 , Cortex-A7 , Cortex-A53 , Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A72 have so far been licensed for the Snapdragon series . The CPU core designed by Qualcomm itself, earlier Snapdragon models introduced between 2008 and 2011, is called Scorpion , implements ARMv7 and is similar to the Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 cores. It is used in various SoCs up to class S3 . Various models introduced between 2012 and 2014 in the S4 and Snapdragon 400 and higher product lines are based on Qualcomm's Krait design, which is also an implementation of ARMv7, but whose computing power is close to the Cortex-A15 . Compared to the Cortex-A15 , Krait has the advantage that it works more energy-efficiently and enables battery-operated devices to run longer. In 2015 Qualcomm introduced the ARMv8-compatible CPU design called Kryo in connection with the Snapdragon 820 . For Kryo and the Snapdragon 820 , the manufacturer promises "up to twice the performance" and "up to twice the energy efficiency" compared to the Snapdragon 810 equipped with the Cortex-A57 .

Apart from the MSM7225 and MSM7625 , all Snapdragon SoCs are equipped with an Adreno 200 graphics processor or higher. All models have a digital signal processor , support USB 2.0 or higher and the connection of GPS and camera modules. Since the S4 , the model series have been available with GPS receivers integrated in the SoC, as well as Bluetooth, WLAN and cellular modems, which in addition to a simplified device design are also associated with cost and energy savings.

The minimum structure sizes used for the production of Snapdragon SoCs range from 65 nm for the MSM7225 to 10 nm for the MSM8998 ( "Snapdragon 835" ).

Specifications of the Snapdragon SoCs from the S4 series
S4 Play S4 Plus S4 Pro S4 Prime
CPU up to 1.2 GHz, 2- or 4-core, ARM Cortex A5 up to 1.7 GHz, 2-core, "Krait" up to 1.7 GHz, 2- or 4-core, "Krait" up to 1.7 GHz, 4-core, "Krait"
GPU Adreno 203 up to Adreno 305 Adreno 320
Video FWVGA up to 1080p HD video 1080p HD video
modem 3G / 4G World / multimode 3G / 4G World / multimode, LTE for some sub-variants no radio modem
camera up to 8 MP up to 20 MP, stereoscopic 3D kit
GPS gpsOne Gen 7 gpsOne Gen8A
USB USB 2.0 high speed USB 2.0 High Speed ​​OTG (480 Mbps)
Bluetooth Discrete solution BT 3.x integrated digital core BT4.0 †
wireless Internet access Discrete solution 802.11n (2.4 GHz) Integrated digital core 802.11n (2.4 / 5 GHz) †
Manufacturing process 45 nm 28 nm
†Digital signal processing is integrated in the SoC. The analog signal processing is implemented on an additional chip.

In June 2013, the Snapdragon 600 (maximum 1.7 GHz CPU clock, four Krait 300 cores, Adreno 320 graphics processor) and Snapdragon 800 with the Adreno 330 GPU and four Krait 400 cores with maximum processor clock were launched presented by 2.3 GHz; Integrated in the SoC are access to LTE networks with up to 150 Mbps as well as a WLAN network card ( 802.11ac ), GPS and Bluetooth. Both Snapdragon models are being produced by the Taiwanese foundry TSMC with a revised microarchitecture and a new 28 nm manufacturing process . In the same year in November, the Snapdragon-805 was released , which enables CPU clock rates of up to 2.7 GHz with four Krait-450 cores and, via the improved Adreno 420 graphics processor, the Ultra HD video standard - with resolutions up to 3840 × 2160 Pixels - supported. The DirectX11-FL-11_2 pipeline of the 600 MHz GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.1., OpenCL 1.2. and dynamic hardware tessellation. The GPU also includes the so-called adaptive scalable texture compression ( ASTC from adaptive scalable texture compression ) presented by ARM in 2012 . With a data throughput of 25.6 GB / s, the memory interface achieves the highest value of all mobile processors to date.

In April 2014 Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 808 and Snapdragon 810 SoCs . Both rely on the 64-bit processor cores Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 and thus on the ARMv8-A instruction set . LTE is supported in Cat-6 with data transmission rates of up to 300 Mbit / s in the downstream and up to 50 Mbit / s in the upstream. The Snapdragon 810 can be combined with LPDDR 4 memory. It consists, among other things, of four Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 CPUs, the Adreno 430 graphics unit and an LTE Cat 6 multimode modem. The Adreno 430 GPU should compared to the Adreno 420 in Snapdragon 805 faster by 30 percent graphics performance and lower power consumption by 20 percent have. It supports 4K display resolutions. Despite the identical micro -architecture to the Adreno 420, this is achieved by expanding a quad-core to a hexa-core architecture. The big.LITTLE processing developed by ARM for the Cortex-A57 / A53 CPUs has been significantly improved by Qualcomm. For example, sudden changes in load can also be taken into account and the energy consumption in the event of a CPU change is modeled. The combined 14-bit dual image signal processors of the Snapdragon 810 also allow cameras with a resolution of up to 55 megapixels on mobile devices. The Snapdragon 808 consists of two Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 processing units, the Adreno 418 GPU and an LTE modem from Qualcomm. The SoC communicates with LP DDR3 RAM and supports 2K display resolutions. Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 808 are each manufactured using the 20 nm process and are intended for use in high-end smartphones and tablets. The Snapdragon 865 Plus , an improved version of the Snapdragon 865, was the first chip for smartphones that clocked at more than 3 GHz.

Special devices based on Snapdragon

The first device based on Snapdragon was the Toshiba TG01 smartphone.

In June 2009, ASUS showed an Eee PC variant for the first time, a PC-like device (based on Acorn ) with a Snapdragon processor; Google's Android was running on it as the operating system. However, the device was only presented as a prototype and did not go on sale.

The Google Nexus One (presented on January 5, 2010) is the first Android reference system with a Snapdragon processor (1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250).

The Nokia Lumia 1020 , released in 2013, has a special Snapdragon S4 processor that supports the 41 megapixel camera from Zeiss. Normally the S4 processor cannot process such high camera resolutions.

Possible operating systems

The Snapdragon architecture is supported by different systems:

Similar platforms

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Snapdragon S3, S2, S1 Processor Product Specs (PDF) Qualcomm
  2. ↑ Qualcomm Enables Mass-Market Smartphones for the Wireless Market . Qualcomm press release dated February 12, 2007.
  3. ↑ Qualcomm rearranges Snapdragon processors . heise online, August 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ Def Con 2020: Android devices can be spied on about gaps in Snapdragon chips Report on Heise-Online from August 10, 2020, accessed on August 15, 2020
  5. ↑ Anand Lal Shimpi: Qualcomm's Announces Krait CPU: The Successor to Scorpion In: Anandtech , February 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ 2. Snapdragon SKUs: 800 and 801 explained In: Matthias Wellendorf, Dorian Black: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 vs. 800: The Little Difference , Tom's Hardware, May 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ Anand Lal Shimpi: Qualcomm's Updated Brand: Introducing Snapdragon S1, S2, S3 & S4 Processors. In: Anandtech , August 3, 2011.
  8. ↑ Taylor Wimberly: Qualcomm explains the system of tiers for Snapdragon S4 In: Android and Me , August 31, 2012.
  9. ^ New Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor Brand Tiers Announced . Qualcomm January 8, 2013.
  10. ↑ Frank Riemenschneider : The anatomy of Qualcomm's poisonous snake . In: elektroniknet.de . September 5, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  11. ↑ Ryan Smith, Andrei Frumusanu: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Performance Preview: Meet Kryo In: AnandTech , December 10, 2015.
  12. ↑ Snapdragon 820 and Kryo CPU: heterogeneous computing and the role of custom compute . Qualcomm, September 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ Snapdragon S4 Processors: System on Chip Solutions for a New Mobile Age (PDF; 459 kB) Qualcomm. October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on July 22, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 16, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / developer.qualcomm.com
  14. ↑ a b Frank Riemenschneider : Qualcomm's Krait 400 reaches 2.3 GHz . In: elektroniknet.de . July 17, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  15. ↑ Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processors: Prime, Pro, Play and Plus . ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. androider.de, August 31, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.androider.de
  16. ↑ Panagiotis Kolokythas: Snapdragon 800 impresses in first benchmarks . Reported to PC-Welt on June 19, 2013.
  17. ↑ Frank Riemenschneider : Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805: No integrated modem, but the fastest GPU on the market. . In: elektroniknet.de . May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  18. ↑ a b Frank Riemenschneider : Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 is better than ARM despite ARM . In: elektroniknet.de . Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  19. ↑ Ben Mueller: Snapdragon 810: Qualcomm chip for smartphones with 4K displays, 55 MP cameras and LTE Cat-6 . Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  20. ↑ https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000118604443/snapdragon-865-plus-erster-smartphone-chip-schphia-ueber-drei-gigahertz
  21. ↑ Asus buries ARM smartbook . In: c't , August 25, 2009, accessed November 3, 2014
  22. ↑ Jan Rähm : Asus plans: No Android, no ARM processor . teltarif.de, April 30, 2009; Retrieved November 3, 2014