More Android phones are likely to come with on-device AI capabilities thanks to a new chip announced today (March 18) by Qualcomm The new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, which Qualcomm announced today (March 18), is an addition to the higher-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that debuted late last year

The S version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 appears to be a lower-priced version that focuses on generative AI features as well as high-end gaming and photo capabilities Ken Mock, Qualcomm's senior director of product management, emphasized that the new system-on-chip will make the flagship experience "more accessible" in more devices when he announced it

Qualcomm executives did not elaborate on why they expanded their silicon lineup to include the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 However, when Samsung announced its Galaxy S24 lineup earlier this year, not all of Samsung's new flagships were equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 The Galaxy S24 Plus and S24 models released outside of North America were instead powered by the Exynos 2400, which is reportedly Samsung's way of cutting costs

With smartphone prices on the rise, perhaps the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will provide a lower-cost alternative chipset for handset makers looking to offer premium handsets with on-device AI capabilities, among other features

As such, Qualcomm has not emphasized performance aspects of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, citing no improvements in speed or power efficiency over the previous generation of silicon Instead, company executives only stated that the new chip's performance should fall somewhere between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which was used in many of the best Android phones last year

Instead, Qualcomm is touting features like generative AI on the device, which can create things from spoken, written, or visual prompts with the help of an AI-powered assistantSnapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip set supports more than 30 large language modules and large visual models It can also provide photo extensions that can generate backgrounds and other content outside the frame of a captured photo

Speaking of image processing capabilities, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 features Qualcomm's Spectra Triple Cognitive image signal processor that supports up to 200 MP image sensors Like the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, this new chipset supports semantic segmentation, which allows images to be divided into 12 layers and optimized individually It also supports low-light imaging to remove graininess from captured images and an always-on camera that speeds up unlocking the phone [Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 gaming features support real-time hardware accelerated ray tracing for better lighting, shadows, and reflections in game graphics The chipset supports refresh rates up to 144 Hz The chipset includes a Snapdragon X70 modem-RF system, a step back from the more power efficient X75 modem in the Snapdragin 8 Gen 3 system-on-chip

According to Qualcomm, device makers such as Honor, iQOO, Realme, Redmi, and Xiaomi are using the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in their future products, and the first phones with the new chipset are expected this month Qualcomm expects the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 to be popular worldwide, but none of these device makers have launched phones in the United States