Qualcomm Announces The Snapdragon 845 Chip Which Runs 120 FPS For VR And Delivers 4K Content

Qualcomm has been developing some of the most powerful chips available today for mobile VR gaming. Just last year they announced the Snapdragon 835 chip which brought down latency delays to 15 milliseconds. Now, they looks to unveil the next generation with the announcement of Snapdragon 845.

This new powerful chip was designed to “blur the lines between physical and virtual worlds,” according to Qualcomm. “Snapdragon 845 introduces an integrated Qualcomm Spectra 280 image signal processor (ISP) and Qualcomm Adreno 630 visual processing subsystem.”

4K and VR Streaming

One of the most striking statements from Qualcomm was that the Snapdragon 845 will be able to capture “64x more high-dynamic range color information for video capture and playback on Ultra HD Premium displays” which is a first in the mobile industry. The chip will be able to power the Ultra HD premium ready displays and deliver 4K Ultra HD content at 60 FPS in addition to delivering 2x 2400 x 2400 @ 120 FPS for VR.

6 DoF and SLAM

With the inclusion of the Adreno 630 visual processing subsystem architecture within the Snapdragon 845, the chip will be the first mobile platform to enable room-scale 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) with simultaneous localization mapping (SLAM) for features such as wall-collision detection.

Additionally, the Snapdragon 845 will introduce something called “Adreno Foveation” which will substantially reduce power consumption, improve visual quality, and boost XR application performance, as compared to the previous generation like the 835.

“As leaders in mobile technology, we will transform the mobile experience with comprehensive advancements in visual processing, AI, security and connectivity,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform is the next horizon of innovation and is going to transform the way people use their mobile devices to make their lives better.”

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Specs

The Snapdragon 845 is currently being sampled to customers and is expected to begin shipping in commercial devices in early 2018. So for the next generation standalone and mobile VR headsets, expect to see the Snapdragon 845 chip included in the HMDs.