The next Snapdragon flagship chip is getting Qualcomm's take on DLSS

Qualcomm recently revealed the first details for its next-generation flagship processors, focusing on the CPU improvements. Now, the company has detailed what we should expect on the GPU front.

Easily the most notable upgrade to the GPU is the addition of Adreno Matrix Cores, with a graphic below suggesting that there are three cores. These cores run AI workloads locally with lower latency and improved power consumption. These cores come a year after Qualcomm brought SME tech to accelerate AI workloads on the CPU. So what are the Adreno Matrix Cores actually used for, then?

Frame generation and AI super-resolution take a step up

Qualcomm says the Adreno Matrix Cores help power Adreno Neural Fusion technology. At first glance, this sounds like a fancy name for the firm’s existing suite of AI super-resolution and frame generation solutions. However, the company says Adreno Neural Fusion offers reduced visual artifacts (e.g., shimmering and ghosting), more stable performance, and sharp detail compared to previous solutions. It also boasts up to 40% power savings compared to the previous solution. We’re guessing the “previous solution” is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Game Super Resolution feature.

Either way, it sounds like you should expect improved frame generation and upscaling in supported games. Qualcomm also confirmed that both Unreal Engine and Unity support Adreno Neural Fusion. This suggests that you won’t have a tough time finding compatible games.

It’s unclear if the Adreno Matrix Cores can be used for non-gaming tasks, though. News of this tech also comes after Xiaomi confirmed that the Arm G2-Ultra NX GPU in its XRing 03 chipset will have eight neural accelerators. So it looks like AI silicon in GPUs could be a theme for next-generation chipsets.

Next-generation GPU specs

What about the fundamental GPU specs? Qualcomm has announced that its next-generation smartphone processors will offer a three-slice GPU architecture. Previous leaks suggested that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series could have six slices, doubling the 8 Elite Gen 5 GPU, but it looks like this claim is wide of the mark. The sliced architecture sees the GPU’s shader cores and other hardware blocks divided into “slices,” allowing for more granular power control and performance balancing.

Qualcomm says its new Adreno GPU is clocked at 1.45GHz. By contrast, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 GPU ran at 1.2GHz. The new GPU still packs 18MB of Adreno High Performance Memory, but the Snapdragon maker says you should expect a 12% efficiency improvement. Otherwise, the chip designer says you can expect a Qualcomm X105 modem and a FastConnect 8800 connectivity suite.

Qualcomm previously confirmed that its next-generation processors would also have a 5GHz Oryon CPU. This marks the first time that we’ve seen a 5GHz smartphone chipset. This is paired with the firm’s FlexCache architecture, which promises to keep the CPU well-fed with instructions. Either way, it looks like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series could deliver a ton of horsepower. Here’s hoping Qualcomm and OEM partners can keep it cool.