From Snapdragon

The 2024 World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC2024) will be held in Barcelona, ​​Spain from February 26 to 29, local time.

The theme of this year is “Future First”, which mainly revolves around six sub-topics, namely Beyond 5G, Intelligent Connectivity of Everything, Humanization of AI, Digital Intelligent Manufacturing, Subversion of Rules and Digital Gene.

These are also the current directions of Qualcomm’s efforts. At this year’s conference, Qualcomm focused on demonstrating technological innovations in AI, 5G, Wi-Fi and other fields.

More powerful 5G: AI-powered 5G Advanced performance

First of all, in terms of 5G, Qualcomm released the Snapdragon X80 5G modem and radio frequency system at MWC2024.The peak download speed is 10Gbps and the upload speed can reach 3.5Gbps. It supports both 5G millimeter wave and sub-6GHz, and supports 5G Advanced features.At present, many countries and regions are vigorously developing in this direction, which will bring about comprehensive improvements in network speed, latency, etc., and is the only way to evolve to 6G.

Not only that, Qualcomm has integrated NB-NTN satellite communications into a 5G modem for the first time. It can be expected that from the second half of this year to next year, several mobile phones and other terminals that can implement satellite communications based on this will be launched. The biggest significance is that they can be used in times of crisis. Ensure that users are constantly connected and can call for help in a timely manner at critical moments.

In addition, the Snapdragon X80 is equipped with a dedicated tensor accelerator, which uses AI optimization to improve throughput, quality of service (QoS), spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency and millimeter wave beam management, expand network coverage and reduce latency.

As usual, the Snapdragon flagship platform that will be launched in the second half of this year is expected to integrate the Snapdragon X80.Commercial terminals equipped with this platform are expected to be released in the second half of 2024, and various products including mobile phones, tablets, watches, headphones, etc. will be launched one after another.

Qualcomm's connection products have always been the best choice in the mobile communications industry. They are not only mobile phones that users have more contact with, but also include various terminal equipment such as routers and vehicle modules. TCL, MeiG Smart, China Unicom, Guanghe Qualcomm and others have released new products equipped with Qualcomm solutions at MWC, which have attracted much attention from users.

At the same time, Qualcomm has also jointly launched a large-scale implementation plan for the “5G-A A multi-concurrent large-space XR competitive game service pilot with large capacity, low latency and intelligent XR service guarantee solution. When 12 channels of XR services are simultaneously accessed, the average air interface delay is less than 10ms.

This cooperation project can not only provide ultra-high-definition picture quality, but also ensure low-latency and highly stable network connections, allowing players to experience the immersive competitive fun.

AI-enhanced Wi-Fi system: FastConnect 7900 refreshes Wi-Fi 7 experience

In addition to the Snapdragon X80, Qualcomm also launched the FastConnect 7900 mobile connection system, which is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2024. This is the industry's first to support AI optimized performance and integrate Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth and ultra-wideband in a single chip Technical solutions.

FastConnect 7900 integrates ultra-wideband technology, Wi-Fi ranging and Bluetooth channel detection, with peak speeds up to 5.8 Gbps, and supports the Bluetooth 5.4 standard with spatial audio and ANT+ functions.

Qualcomm has also created a powerful set of proximity sensing technologies to support a seamless experience in proximity sensing application scenarios such as digital keys, item search, and indoor navigation. OEM manufacturers and developers can provide a series of short-range sensing applications based on these integrated key technologies, and consumers can choose to use the corresponding technologies according to the usage scenarios.

Compared with the previous generation, FastConnect 7900 adopts a new RF front-end module and architecture, which reduces system power consumption by 40% while improving energy efficiency; the system also helps reduce the board area by 25%, leaving more battery space. to improve battery life.

At the same time, AI technology enhancements have been added to allow FastConnect 7900 to adapt to specific use cases and environments, effectively optimizing energy consumption, network latency and throughput, reducing terminal power consumption by up to 30%, and all processes are run on the terminal side. No user data or content monitoring is performed to protect personal privacy.

AI functions blossom and bear fruit: Qualcomm AI Hub makes AI development efficient, simple and deeply embedded in users

As can be seen from the above two new products, AI has now become an important development direction of the entire communications and technology industry. In the future, AI will continue to be used to create more personalized and smarter experiences.

For example, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, which won the GTI Mobile Technology Innovation Breakthrough Award during the 2024 MWC, is Qualcomm's first platform specifically built for generative AI. It can support generative AI models with more than 10 billion parameters, and its AI performance Far ahead, many Android flagship models are now equipped with this platform.

Qualcomm also joined hands with global and Chinese partners such as Honor, Xiaomi and OPPO at MWC to demonstrate the powerful AI functions supported by the third-generation Snapdragon 8. Xiaomi's Year of the Dragon flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra released before MWC. Powered by the third-generation Snapdragon 8, it comprehensively defines a new level of future mobile imaging and brings an excellent experience in terms of performance, connectivity, audio, etc. . The Honor Magic6 Pro brought by Honor at its global conference in Barcelona is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8 and supports a 7 billion parameter AI end-side large model, bringing AI-driven smart experiences such as Magic Portal.

These AI functions have been deeply integrated into users' lives through the third-generation Snapdragon 8 and the system capabilities of manufacturers, making AI no longer a “concept” that is beyond the reach of ordinary people, but increasingly practical, easy to use, and easy to use. use.

In addition to mobile phones, Qualcomm also released the Snapdragon This time, the world's first audio inference multi-modal large model running on Windows PC was demonstrated at the exhibition. It can recognize different sounds and achieve continuous dialogue, and runs completely on the terminal side, giving full play to the power of Snapdragon X Elite. ability.

Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm China, said during the conference, “Only when generative AI functions can be run anytime and anywhere in terminals such as smartphones, mobile PCs and connected cars that are within our reach, can the terminals and the cloud be closely integrated. This will promote the widespread application of generative AI.”

In order to better develop AI capabilities, Qualcomm also released Qualcomm AI Hub at this MWC, which will support more than 75 optimized AI models, and developers will be able to run AI inference speeds up to 4 times faster.

Developers can run their own models on cloud-hosted terminals equipped with Qualcomm platforms with just a few lines of code. This makes it easier for developers to create personalized and customized end-side AI applications, further accelerating the popularity of AI.

It can be expected that with the support of Qualcomm AI Hub and multiple AI mobile platforms, AI functions on various devices will soon usher in a blowout development. In conjunction with the current AI strategies developed by various manufacturers, in the future mobile phones, tablets, Various products such as cars will implement countless AI functions, ushering us into a truly intelligent era. The assistant Jarvis in “Iron Man” may soon become a reality.

Qualcomm Hexagon NPU lays a solid foundation for AI and fully implements the software and hardware ecosystem

We are about to usher in the era of big AI, but previous hardware has been unable to support today’s huge AI demands and computing workload, and cannot bring the strongest performance experience.

In this context, a computing architecture that can specifically handle AI processes—NPU—came into being.

Qualcomm believes that the diverse requirements and computing needs of generative AI require different processors to meet. Heterogeneous computing architectures that support processing diversity can leverage the strengths of each processor, while neural network processors (NPUs), newly designed for generative AI, focus on AI workloads such as scalar, vector, and tensor mathematical operations, allowing Heterogeneous computing achieves optimal application performance, energy efficiency, and battery life, enabling new and enhanced generative AI experiences.

In fact, Qualcomm has been laying out its layout for a long time. In 2018, it added the Hexagon tensor accelerator to the Hexagon NPU in the Snapdragon 855; in 2019, it expanded terminal-side AI use cases on the Snapdragon 865, including AI imaging, AI video, AI voice and always-on perception functions; the Hexagon NPU of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 in 2022 has introduced many important technical improvements, which is enough to support the use of large models.Today’s third-generation Snapdragon 8 is specifically optimized for generative AI, bringing a 98% improvement in reasoning performance and a 40% improvement in energy efficiency.

Qualcomm Hexagon NPU can achieve stable and sustained high-performance AI output with lower power consumption. It can be customized and matched with the control instruction set architecture (ISA) for rapid design evolution and expansion. In addition, it can also use the Qualcomm AI engine to cover Qualcomm Adreno GPU, Qualcomm Kryo or Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm sensor hub and memory subsystem work together to run AI applications more quickly and efficiently, providing a stronger AI experience.

Overall, Qualcomm has opened up a full-link layout from hardware and software for the arrival of AI, providing strong hardware support. It also makes it easier and faster for developers to create AI applications through AI Hub, accelerating the rapid spread of AI in various applications. , allowing AI to rapidly spread into users’ work and lives.

At the same time, with Qualcomm's strong technical leadership and comprehensive product layout in the industry, it can lead manufacturers of smartphones, PCs, XR devices, automobiles, and Internet of Things devices to move quickly to realize the full AI era. Currently, it has created It has many practical cases and will accelerate its implementation in automobiles and other aspects in the future, making the driving experience more iterative and smarter.

The mutual integration of 5G Advanced and AI has gradually become a reality under Qualcomm's several years of layout, allowing users and manufacturers to seamlessly integrate, and will also bring us a truly intelligent era of everything.