Qualcomm Unveils the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 With Wi-Fi 7, On-Device GenAI

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 on Thursday as the chipmaker’s most advanced mid-range chipset. The latest addition to the Snapdragon 7-series portfolio comes with support for on-device generative AI models like Llama 2, Gemini Nano, and Baichuan-7B while offering up to 15 percent and 45 percent better CPU and GPU performance compared to previous models, respectively. The chip also comes with support for capturing 200-megapixel images and supports Wi-Fi 7 connectivity along with mmWave and Sub6 5G networks.

Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 availability timeline

The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 (SM7675-AB) will arrive on smartphones from smartphone makers like OnePlus, Realme, and Sharp. The chipmaker said on Thursday that the first smartphone to be equipped with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is expected to be unveiled within the next two months. The company is yet to reveal details of which markets these smartphones will be available in.

Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 specifications

According to details shared by Qualcomm, the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 comprises one Arm Cortex-X4 ‘prime’ core clocked at 2.8GHz, four ‘performance’ cores clocked at 2.6GHz, along with three ‘efficiency’ cores with a peak clock speed of 1.9GHz. This chipset supports up to 24GB of LPDDR5x memory at up to 4200MHz and UFS 4.0 storage and USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C connectivity.

Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is the first chip in the Snapdragon 7-series with Wi-Fi 7 support
Photo Credit: Qualcomm

Like Qualcomm’s current-generation flagship chipsets, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 offers support for on -device generative AI models. These include large language models (LLMs) — such as Gemini Nano and Llama 2 — we well as large vision models (LVMs). The company also says that the processor supports on-device multi-language translation and transcription for international media.

The new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 supports displays at up to Quad-HD+ resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate and external displays at up to 8K resolution. It offers support for the Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec along with spatial audio and head tracking. Meanwhile, OEMs can also add face unlocking as the chip offers supports an ultra-low power, always-sensing camera.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is the first chip in the series to be equipped with triple 18-bit image signal processors (ISPs) and it will enable smartphone cameras to capture 200-megapixel images. It supports capturing HDR video at 4K/ 60fps and supports Snapdragon Low Light Vision (LLV) support for videos captured in dark areas. 

On the connectivity front, the new chip from Qualcomm is equipped with a Snapdragon X63 5G Modem-RF system. The chipmaker says that the modem has a peak download speed of up to 4.2Gbps. It supports both mmWave and Sub-6 5G networks, with Dual-Sim Dual Active (DSDA) for 5G and 4G networks.

This is the first Snapdragon 7-series chip to offer support for Wi-Fi 7 networks with high-band simultaneous (HBS) multil-ink, and the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 mobile connectivity system is claimed to offer download speeds up to up to 5.8Gbps. It also comes with support for the latest Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, LE audio, Snapdragon Sound, and Qualcomm’s aptX audio codecs, according to Qualcomm.