Qualcomm makes new Snapdragon chip with AV1 video codec

Qualcomm wants its next processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with AV1 video codec. This means that the chip can better deal with Netflix and YouTube, so that the apps use less energy and data.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Protocol writes that it has seen the specifications of the chip, in which it would be the SM8550, which is said to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. We have to wait a little longer, because according to the medium, the chip would only arrive at the end of this year at manufacturers. That means that we will only see smartphones with that brand new chip in 2023.

It would be the first time that Qualcomm comes with this support on a chip. Certain other chips already have it, such as many new smart televisions. MediaTek processors have already had AV1 codec since 2020, so it can be found on select smartphones as well.

AV1 codec

Of course it is not certain that that chip will indeed be provided with the popular AV1 codec, because who knows, maybe a few things will be changed during development. However, we expect it to. AV1 is made by the Alliance for Open Media, which is a kind of teamwork between Intel, Amazon, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla.

The organization was founded to ensure there is a better way to minify videos so that they can be sent quickly over networks. This has also been successful with AV1: in most cases the codec does indeed ensure a higher quality of the stream.

Samsung Galaxy S22

No smartphones with the new chip from Qualcomm have been announced yet, let alone that the chip itself has already been unveiled. But if Protocol is right, it probably won’t be long. If you want to experience what it is like to have that AV1 codec, you can choose a Samsung Galaxy S22, because it already has this codec.

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