Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 pushes the envelope for gaming phones

What's powering your phone? Well, if it's a future top-tier gaming phone then chances are by later in 2022 that there'll be a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 inside.

Qualcomm just announced its step-up platform, bolstering the existing Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 by 10 percent across its compute and graphics grunt – which is where that all-important 'Plus' comes into play. 

As is typical in Qualcomm's mid-term Plus variant, the jump between the base and Plus isn't huge: here the 4nm chipset boasts a 3.2GHz prime core, which is why it's best paired with gaming devices and the like. 

Importantly, however, Qualcomm claims its improvements in efficiencies will see battery life actually extended by 15 percent – which could translate into an extra 80 minutes of video-watching, for example. 

Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 also announced

But that's not all! Qualcomm has also debuted its Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, putting an end to its old naming convention for its 7-series chipsets. 

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 fits into that sub-flagship space, with many of the premium features waterfalling down into this series too. That means 200-megapixel camera support, QHD+ resolution support, HDR gaming support, and a powerful artificial intelligence engine too.

The chip will appear in as-yet-unnamed handsets in the "coming weeks", so keep your eyes peeled for the arrival of some important phone launches through May and June time. We'll be watching closely...