Qualcomm Windows on Snapdragon: New 7c & 8c SoCs for sub-$800 Laptops
by Anton Shilov on December 6, 2019 4:15 PM EST
Last year Qualcomm introduced its flagship Snapdragon 8cx platform for premium always-connected PCs (ACPCs) that packed the best technologies that the company had to offer at the time. Being a no-compromise solution, the Snapdragon 8cx was not meant for every ACPC out there, so this week the company expanded the lineup of its SoCs for laptops with the Snapdragon 7c for entry-level machines and the Snapdragon 8c for mainstream always-connected notebooks.
Qualcomm aimed its Snapdragon 8cx primarily at flagship devices ACPCs and therefore maxed out its performance and capabilities, as well as offering the ability to add a 5G modem inside. To day the SoC has won only three designs: the Lenovo 5G laptop (which is yet to ship), the Microsoft Surface Pro X (which uses a semi-custom version called SQ1), and the Samsung Galaxy Book S — all of which are going to cost well over $1000.
In a bid to address more affordable machines, Qualcomm will roll-out its slightly cheaper Snapdragon 8c SoC that is the same silicon as the 8cx, but will feature a tad lower performance. The 7c by comparison is a new chip that will also have a smartphone counterpart, and is aimed at sub-$400 devices, according to analyst Patrick Moorehead. Qualcomm even stated that the 7c is going to target Chromebook equivalents, if not ChromeOS itself.
| Qualcomm Snapdragon Flagship SoCs 2019-2020 | ||||
| SoC | Snapdragon 8cx | Snapdragon 8c | Snapdragon 7c | |
| CPU | 4x Kryo 495 Gold 4x Kryo 495 Silver Up to 2.84 GHz |
4x Kryo 490 Gold 4x Kryo 490 Silver Up to 2.45 GHz |
8x Kryo 468 Up to 2.40 GHz |
|
| GPU | Adreno 680 | Adreno 675 | Adreno 618 | |
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 690 | Hexagon 690 | Hexagon ? | |
| AI Perf Combined | 7 TOPs | 6 TOPs | 5 TOPs | |
| Memory Controller |
8x 16-bit CH LPDDR4X-4266 63.58 GB/s |
4x 16-bit CH LPDDR4X-4266 31.79 GB/s |
2 x 16-bit CH LPDDR4-4266 15.90 GB/s |
|
| ISP/Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 390 ISP 1x 32MP or 2x 16MP |
14-bit Spectra 255 1x 32MP or 2x 16MP |
||
| Decode Encode |
4K120 10-bit H.265 720p480 HDR Support |
4Kp60 ? HDR Support |
||
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5 | Wi-Fi 6 | ||
| Integrated Modem | Snapdragon X24 LTE (Category 20) DL = 2000 Mbps 7x20MHz CA, 256-QAM, 4x4 UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM |
Snapdragon X15 LTE (Category 15/13) DL: 800 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM, 4x4 UL: 150 Mbps 2x20MHz CA, 64-QAM |
||
| External Modem | Snapdragon X55
(LTE Category 24/22) (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) |
- | ||
| Mfc. Process | TSMC 7nm (N7) |
7nm | Samsung 8nm |
|
The 8c is the same chip as the 8cx, but clocked slightly lower. The 7c by contrast is built on Samsung’s 8nm process, and will mirror the specifications of a mid-range mobile chip in 2020. We were told that the 7c chip isn’t exactly ready yet, although other press were told that demos that were supposedly on 7c devices in our briefing were actually running 7c silicon.
The 8c, being an 8cx variant, can be paired with Qualcomm’s X55 modem to enable 5G connectivity, although it will be up to the OEM in order to determine if the device will have both Sub 6 GHz and mmWave support.
Devices featuring the 8c and 7c should come to market in 2020.
Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile at Qualcomm Technologies, said the following:
“The mobile-first consumer wants an experience on par with a smartphone, and we have the innovation, the inventions and the technology to enable this experience for customers across price points.”
Related Reading
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit Day 3 Live Blog: ACPC and XR
- Qualcomm Tech Summit, Day 3: Snapdragon 8cx, the New ACPC SoC
- Hands-On with Industry’s First 5G Laptop: A Lenovo with Qualcomm’s 8cx SoC and X55 Modem
- Samsung Announces Always-Connected Galaxy Book S Laptop with Snapdragon 8cx
Source: Qualcomm
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Raqia - Saturday, December 7, 2019 - link
According to their interview on this site, they move ~1,000 units of WARM parts a day; that's not much, but a good start. Given that the Hololens 2 runs WARM because no x86 part has the features at the power envelope and that they're doing an Android phone as well (which I suspect will have some kind of capability to Virtualize an instance Windows), Microsoft seems serious about WARM in the long run. ReplyHStewart - Sunday, December 8, 2019 - link
Microsoft would love to get rid of Legacy x86 applications, but the real problem is business has applications written on x86 and it hard to replace machines when you dealing with 1000's of them.I think it long run they want to be more like Apple and that is why they doing, cloning of PC has done wonders for making Windows popular - but it hurt the bottom line at Microsoft.
My big concern is that people will be mislead by these machines thinking that it can run applications and when it does not they will be upset.
What is odd I would think this type of processor would be better for Android or Chrome market than Windows. a Reply
rocky12345 - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link
Yep very true. It is pretty clear MS wants everyone to switch to the Windows store because they make money from every App sold that has an up front cost. People not conforming to their ways and want to use programs bought or downloaded from any where else does not make them any money. My best guess is MS thinks if they get the ball rolling with these Arm setups that at some point they can try to force more and more people over to their MS store because lets face it they know as long as x86 is the king of the play ground most people will not switch over to their MS store because x86 has such a huge software base and there is really no need for people having to rely on MS and their store for most if not all software.MS knows this and they are going to try their best to make x86 a thing of the past as fast as they can. Right now it is these small steps in that direction but as time moves forward they will of coarse get more bold and make bigger moves in that direction. This has always been the way MS does things to herd people in the direction they want us all to go. If they could get away with things like Apple can they would have just done it already and forced the change over I also hear rumors of Apple maybe dropping Intel in favor of them making their own desktop CPU which of coarse would not be based off of x86 at all but more inline with what they use in their mobile hardware. I am not sure how true that is but we all know how Apple likes to screw over their hardware partners and go their own way. Reply
tipoo - Saturday, December 7, 2019 - link
Surface Go 2, get a move on Microsoft.Would be way better than the chip in there currently. It's technically a "core" architecture, but without Turbo boost it performs worse than some of the *Monts now. Reply
yannigr2 - Sunday, December 8, 2019 - link
I guess Windows on ARM was so fast on the 8cx, that these new SOCs are completely logical steps. Replynandnandnand - Sunday, December 8, 2019 - link
8cx is the best chip and should be used in $5,000 systems. Replypeevee - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link
Even at 10 times less that that they would not sell in any significant quantities (especially after returns when people realize that almost nothing works). Replyrocky12345 - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link
Personally I am not finding myself very excited about these Arm CPU's getting to the desktop and Microsoft going out of their way to try to make windows work with them. At the end of the day if you use your PC with programs not from the Microsoft store which rely on x86 the performance is going to be so low that most of us at least me would want to through the PC out the window and go get something else that has a non emulated x86 CPU inside of it.I know they have to start some where and probably about 5-10 years down the road after these PC's have gone through a few versions of hardware and most software has moved to non x86 they will become more useful to more people. Until then to me at least these are nothing more than little play toys that are good for grandma's daily internet surfing on Facebook and other minor tasks. Just my opinion on the subject nothing more nothing less. Reply
Wilco1 - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link
Given the Cortex-A76 in the 8cx has similar IPC as Skylake and is about twice as fast as the best Atom, emulated performance is more than fast enough - better than what you'd get from a cheap x86 laptop. ReplyTheinsanegamerN - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link
"emulated performance is more than fast enough"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that. The rest of us look at the laughable real world performance of WinArm device and just laugh.
It'll be a LONG time before ARM is the main CPU for the windows world. Reply