After the disclosure of Qualcomm's 2015 roadmap, sharp eyed people soon discovered the existence of a core design called TS2. This core design should be Qualcomm's next generation independent core, which is used to replace the current high-end Krait architecture. The new core will also use Samsung or GF's 14nm FinFET process.
According to the roadmap, Qualcomm will introduce the following processors before the end of this year:
Snapdragon 616， It can be seen as the high frequency chicken blood version of the current 615 processor. The CPU core frequency will be between 1.8GHz and 2.2GHz. With Adreno 408 GPU, it uses the 28nm HKMG process of SMIC International and supports LTE Cat. 6;
Snapdragon 620， Four Taipan architectures are used, and the maximum dominant frequency is 2.0GHz~2.5GHz, with Adreno 418 GPU, LPDDR3， Support LTE Cat.10;
Snapdragon 625、 629, eight core chip, with Adreno 418 GPU, LPDDR4， Use Samsung or GF's 20nm HKMG to support LTE Cat.10;
Snapdragon 815， Use big LITTLE design, four core TS1i+four core TS1 CPU, with Adreno 450 GPU, LPDDR4， Use 20nm process to support LTE Cat 10；
Snapdragon 820， Use eight TS2 64 bit cores with Adreno 530 GPU, LPDDR4， Use Samsung or GF's 14nm FinFET process, and support LTE Cat.10.
Qualcomm released its own Krait core in the spring of 2012, so the TS (Taipan) core came too late this time - nearly three and a half years later, and the product update cycle has almost doubled that of ARM and even Apple. Of course, Qualcomm's dominance in mobile processors has left plenty of time for Qualcomm to squeeze toothpaste.
At the end of 2013, Apple released the first "mobile 64 bit core", which surprised everyone, including Qualcomm. In the second half of 2014, ARM's new ARMv8 instruction set and processor also came on the scene, completely making Qualcomm a "backward generation".
Apple's launch of 64 bit processors really caught Qualcomm off guard, so Qualcomm must face two choices: 1. Try to keep pace with the pace of the launch of 64 bit processors (which is probably the rhythm of the launch of 810); 2. Perfect the successor of Krait architecture or completely rebuild the successor of Krait architecture, and refer to Apple's design to adapt it to the 64 bit era.
After that, it seems to be expected that Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 will use the Cortex-A53 architecture, because the predecessor 400 of Qualcomm 410 used ARM's Cortex-A7 architecture (that is, the predecessor of Cortex-A53 architecture) to reduce research and development costs and lower prices, so as to cope with the competition between such domestic processors as MediaTek and other domestic processors.
The price is a very sensitive aspect for entry-level mobile processors, which is at least much more sensitive than the indicator of "differentiation". However, in the field of high-end mobile processors, "differentiation" is more important, because when customers choose high-end mobile processors, they tend to focus on the characteristics of a high-end mobile processor rather than its price.
So when Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 810 processor, many people were surprised again - Qualcomm, which has always been "unyielding" in the high-end processor field, chose the ARM architecture. You should know that Qualcomm has stuck to its high-end processor architecture since the rise of touch-screen smartphones.
According to this news, Qualcomm will return its high-end 64 bit processor architecture to its own hands within six months, which means that the life cycle of Qualcomm's A57 processor is only half a year or even shorter. The existence of 810 also shows that Qualcomm has chosen to promote its own 64 bit processor as soon as possible, and 810 itself has only gained the reputation of a transitional product.
As for Qualcomm's second choice, to rebuild Krait's successor, the situation is not so clear. If Qualcomm chooses not to rebuild, then Qualcomm will face another long R&D cycle (perhaps another three and a half years). In this way, Qualcomm will completely fall behind its competitors.
However, if Qualcomm rebuilds its own Taipan core after studying Apple's Cyclone core, the change in the Taipan core may not be as big as we thought. On the 820 processor exposed this time, Qualcomm chose an 8-core design similar to 810 instead of Apple or Invista's dual core design, The only difference between 820 and 810 is that the eight cores of 820 will all use the same architecture, rather than the size of 810.
As a result, Qualcomm's new processor should still not catch up with Apple's Cyclone and Nvidia's Denver core in terms of single core performance. Qualcomm's Taipan core may still be the evolution of Krait core in essence - the product of improving performance and reducing power consumption.
ARM has previously announced its big The LITTLE design is actually more excellent, because processors using this design will use small low-power cores when dealing with simple tasks. Only when dealing with heavy tasks will high-performance cores be enabled. If Qualcomm has its own eight core design, it will use the same core to process all operations from the simplest to the most complex.
As for whether the Android operating system can use all eight cores in most cases, or only eight cores in a few cases. If only eight cores are used in a few cases, under what circumstances will eight processor cores be used? Do those tasks really need eight cores for calculation? When eight cores are used to handle the same task, how much more will they improve than two cores or four cores? These questions will be answered by Qualcomm when it officially releases the Taipan and its own eight core high-end processor.
On the other hand, although not unexpected, at least the Snapdragon 820 processor, Qualcomm's flagship processor in the fall of 2015, will use the 14nm FinFET process like Samsung's Exynos processor flagship and Apple's A9 processor. Qualcomm has lagged behind its competitors in 20nm. At least the 810 processor with 20nm has not been shipped yet, while the 20nm processors of Samsung's Exynos 5430, Exynos 5433, Exynos 7 Octa and Apple's A8 processors are already ready for soy sauce.
In 2012, Qualcomm's success was mainly due to the use of the latest 28nm manufacturing process when it launched Krait. The use of the new process inevitably meant an increase in cost. However, for OEMs and consumers, a high-end mobile phone should have the best processing performance, and the price is not a problem.
As for Nvidia, it seems that it always misses the technology tree. It always chooses the cheaper but older manufacturing process in order to save 25 cents, which makes OEMs and consumers always focus on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors when they choose again.
Although Qualcomm's current roadmap is drawn in this way, many of the processors listed above may be launched into mobile phones next year. Let's just say 820. Its official release date may wait until Snapdragon 810 is launched into mobile phones.
At the same time, Qualcomm should also get the 820 out before Samsung launches the Galaxy Note 5. After all, Qualcomm has lost 90% of its capacity on the Galaxy S6, and Qualcomm will not let go of such face saving projects.
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