Twitter netizen “Revegnus” exposed the test scores of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3. The Geekbench 6 single-core score of this chip is 2200 points, and the multi-core score reached 7000 points. For comparison, the Apple A16 has a single-core score of 2500 points and a multi-core score of 6200 points; Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 has a single-core score of 2000 points and a multi-core score of 5500 points.
From a comprehensive comparison, the single-core score of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is lower than that of A16, but the multi-core score surpasses that of A16, which is a significant improvement compared with Snapdragon 8 Gen2.
It is reported that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 adopts 1+5+2 architecture design, including 1 Cortex X4 super core, 5 Cortex A720 large cores and 2 Cortex A520 small cores, of which the super core frequency reaches 3.7GHz.
In addition, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is built using TSMC’s N4P process, and has no chance of TSMC’s 3nm process. Its rival Apple A17 chip will first use TSMC’s 3nm process.
According to reports at the beginning of the year, TSMC has won most of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipsets, because TSMC’s 3nm process yield rate is as high as 80%. However, I am afraid that there are still variables. The key issue is the wafer price of TSMC.
Starting from the 10nm process, TSMC’s sales price per wafer began to increase exponentially. When TSMC launched 7nm in 2018, the wafer price jumped to nearly $10,000. In 2020, the price of 5nm wafers exceeded $16,000. At 3nm, the sales price of each wafer exceeds 20,000 US dollars, and the quotation of 3nm wafers is 20,000 US dollars per piece, which is 20% more expensive than 5nm. After Qualcomm’s calculations, it found that this meant millions of dollars in increased costs for itself.
Even if Qualcomm can accept it, its downstream customers, that is, mobile phone manufacturers, can hardly bear it. It is also for this reason that 8 Gen3 is built using TSMC’s N4P process.
Finally, the release time, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 will be unveiled at the Snapdragon Technology Summit on October 24.
