Week 48 in review: Snapdragon 8 Gen1 is here, Realme GT 2 Pro details emerge

Qualcomm unveiled its next flagship chipset for Android phones and it marks a deviation from the naming convention. For starters, it's not Qualcomm Snapdragon anymore, but just Snapdragon. Meet the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 – that’s the new naming scheme, digit for class (8 being flagship) and a generation. It is Qualcomm’s first 4nm chipset and the first to use this new generation of the CPU architectures.

The CPU maintains the three cluster design, however, the cores are now based on the ARMv9 designs. This means that the prime core is a Cortex-X2 and it will run at 3.0GHz. Backing it are three performance cores based on the Cortex-A710, those will run at 2.5GHz, and four efficiency cores based on the A510 running at 1.8GHz.

Overall, the new CPU will be 20% faster than the one in the Snapdragon 888 while also reducing power usage by up to 30%.

Moving on to the Realme GT 2 Pro, which got its name confirmed and appeared in renders this week. It possesses a potent camera visor spanning the top of the back. There are three visible camera modules housed in the contraption with two 50MP shooters alongside an 8MP snapper.

The Honor 60 and 60 Pro were unveiled. The Pro has a Snapdragon 778G+, a 108MP main camera, and a pair of 50MP sensors - one for the ultrawide on the rear and another for the selfie on the front. The 60 uses a Snapdragon 778G and swaps the pair of 50MP cameras for an 8MP ultrawide and 32MP selfie.

The Honor 60 and 60 Pro are currently on pre-order in China. The vanilla model starts at CNY 2,700 ($425/€375/₹31,800) for the 8/128 GB model, but there are 8/256 GB and 12/256 GB options as well (each step adds CNY 300 to the price). The 60 Pro starts at CNY 3,700 ($580/€515/₹43,500) for an 8/256 GB unit, plus you can upgrade to 12/256 GB for CNY 300 more.

Meanwhile we learned the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ will use 50MP 1/1.57” main sensors with 1.0µm pixels and an f/1.8 aperture for their main camera. It sounds like the Samsung GN5 or Sony IMX766. The telephoto camera will switch from the current lossless digital zoom approach to a more traditional optical zoom with 3x magnification (f/2.4 aperture). This will be a 10MP sensor with a 1/3.94” optical format and 1.0µm pixels.

Joining those will be a 12MP sensor for the ultrawide camera – 1/2.55” in size with 1.4µm pixels and an f/2.2 aperture. This is essentially the same as on the S21 series. The selfie camera will be the same as on the S21/S21+ as well, meaning a 10MP sensor (1/3.24”, 1.22µm) with an f/2.2 aperture.

Those were the key stories this week. See you next one!