CES 2017: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip focuses on battery life

Qualcomm has announced the next flagship processor for smartphones. It is called the Snapdragon 835 and is the successor to Snapdragon 821 that came out in 2016 and is powering phones such as OnePlus 3T. The new chip uses the 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET fabrication process technology, the first chip of its kind for smartphones, from the company’s line-up. That is not all, because Qualcomm says this is ideal for more power efficiency, increased performance, longer battery life and slimmer device size when compared to the previous generations of processors.

There are indications that this will allow phone makers to make slimmer and more compact smartphone designs, while delivering better performance and battery life overall. “Snapdragon 835 combines Qualcomm® Kryo™ 280 CPU with Qualcomm Technologies’ many additional low power, high-performance processing technologies to support great battery life for user experiences such as AR and VR, listening to high fidelity audio, watching HD video, playing games, and using the camera/camcorder. Snapdragon 835 is an Ultra HD Premium mobile processor and supports full 4K/60fps, 10-bit HDR10/HEVC video decode, HDR graphics rendering and display directly to wide color gamut 10-bit 4K displays," said Qualcomm. 

The Snapdragon 835 chip also features the evolution for the company’s fast charging technology, called Quick Charge 4.0. The new version is also fully compatible with USB Type-C industry standards for cables and charging ports, and the company claims it can charge 20% faster than Quick Charge 3.0. There are new built-in protection mechanisms for damage against overcharging. Qualcomm says Quick Charge 4.0 can provide “5 hours of use from just 5 minutes of charging". In smartphones, the cameras will also see better performance because of improvements in image captures, native support for optical zoom systems and improved auto focus and electronic video stabilisation.

Interestingly enough, Qualcomm is pushing this chip as the ideal processor for virtual reality hardware. The Snapdragon 835 offers faster 3D graphics, 60 times more colours and improved audio processing. The 835 is also the first Snapdragon processor to support Ultra HD 4K Premium video playback, including HDR 10.

The first phones running the Snapdragon 835 chip should be heading our way later this year. These will include Android flagship phones as well as the more affordable flagship killer devices.