Qualcomm has fallen into a pattern – launch a Snapdragon chip, then introduce a faster “+” variant and a cheaper “S” variant. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 came in late 2023, then the 7+ Gen 3 in March and, now an “S” model is on the horizon. It’s not official yet, maybe it’ll happen during Qualcomm’s big event in October. For now, we have this leaked slide that Evan Blass shared.
Focusing on the details below, the Snapdragon 7s Zen 3 will have a 20% faster CPU, 40% faster GPU, and 30% faster NPU, while there will be a marginal 12% improvement in power efficiency.
These numbers are presumably comparable to the Snapdragon 7s Generation 2. That chip isn’t particularly fast – it has four Cortex-A78 cores (2.4GHz) and four A55 cores (1.95GHz), plus an Adreno 710 GPU (940MHz). This hardware is also seen in the Snapdragon 6 Generation 1, although there it runs at lower clock speeds.
The 7s Gen 2 GPU is comparable to the Dimensity 7300 GPU (Mali-G615 MC2), so a 40% increase would make the 7s Gen 3 competitive with more powerful mid-range chips. It should be close to but still behind the vanilla 7 Gen 3 (Adreno 720, 975MHz). However, it is unclear what CPU and GPU hardware will be used in the 7s Gen 3, so this is only a guess.
Anyway, generative AI and language translation/transcription will probably be the main selling points for the new chip. AI is trendy and really benefits from faster GPUs and NPUs. And it will help the camera convert raw Bayer data into a color image with AI Remosaic.
This chipset will probably be found in cheap gaming phones as well, thanks to the AFME or “Adreno Frame Motion Engine”. It generates extra frames without putting extra load on the GPU. For example, it turns 60fps into 120fps. It also has VRS Pro (Variable Rate Shading).
Connectivity will also be improved, though we don’t have all the details yet. Bluetooth 5.4 is definitely new (the 7s Gen 2 only has v5.2). Spatial audio also seems to be a new addition.
The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is found in many popular phones and we have reviewed most of them. Some were priced well and the chipset’s performance was described as “adequate”. However, other phones were too expensive for the performance the chip offers. According to official performance numbers, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 will perform better in future reviews.
