Qualcomm announced an improved version of its popular Snapdragon 800 SoC. The new Snapdragon 801 is not as powerful as the upcoming Snapdragon 805, but it’s fast, nonetheless.
Compared with the existing Snapdragon 800, the new chip comes with 14% faster Krait 400 processor cores, 28% faster Adreno 330 graphics, and 45% faster camera sensor processing. The last feat alone makes it a perfect candidate for powerful camera-phones expected to be unveiled later this year, as well as some existing devices like Nokia PureView and Sony Xperia Z1 series.
The best part – the new Snapdragon 801 chip is pin-for-pin and software compatible with Snapdragon 800, making it easy for OEMs to implement the new SoC. So we’re not surprised that first phones using this chip will (according to Qualcomm) be out “before the end of March 2014.” Heck, we may see some model unveiled during Mobile World Congress.
Aside from the improved processing speed, this Snapdragon also integrates multi-band 4G LTE Cat4 modem, WiFi 802.11ac support, and (check this out) dual SIM/dual Active (DSDA) capability. Sweet! 🙂