{"id":8110,"date":"2020-09-04T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-8cx-gen-2-5g-processor-for-windows-on-arm\/"},"modified":"2020-09-04T18:05:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T18:05:00","slug":"qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-8cx-gen-2-5g-processor-for-windows-on-arm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-8cx-gen-2-5g-processor-for-windows-on-arm\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor for Windows on Arm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor for Windows on Arm<\/h2>\n

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Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G at IFA in Berlin early Thursday morning, partnering with Acer to develop a new, connected PC with long battery life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Acer Spin 7 14-inch convertible laptop will be the first announced with the new chip\u2014which, as its name suggests, can be used with the X55 5G modem that Qualcomm manufactures. Although Qualcomm was uncharacteristically mum on battery life, Acer isn’t: The laptop maker says the Spin 7 will offer \u201cmulti-day\u201d battery life, which certainly implies more than 24 hours. HP will also build a business laptop based upon the platform, the companies said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"acer<\/a> Acer<\/small>
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Acer’s new Spin 7, which uses the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Battery life has always been Qualcomm\u2019s strength, however. Performance limitations continue to dog the platform, while consumers wrestle with the lack of emulated 64-bit Windows apps. Users are starting to find workarounds to solve the latter issue\u2014somewhat, anyway.<\/p>\n

Qualcomm believes that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 can outperform a 10th-gen Core i5 at 15W by 18 percent. Whether the 10th-gen Core i5 was from the 14nm, productivity-minded Comet Lake family, or the 10nm, graphics-oriented Ice Lake family, Qualcomm doesn\u2019t say. Neither does it identify the app it\u2019s using to make those claims.<\/p>\n

\"qualcomm<\/a> Qualcomm<\/small><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, we\u2019ve heard these boasts before. Qualcomm claimed that the first-generation Snapdragon 8cx would outperform Intel\u2019s 8th-gen Core i5-8250U in the PCMark 10 Apps benchmark, which uses real-world Microsoft Office applications. Qualcomm predicted its own performance accurately, but woefully underpredicted the Core i5-8250U\u2019s performance. In our review of the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy Book S, the rival Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (3rd Gen), powered by a Core i5-8250U, scored about twice what Qualcomm predicted. That it put the Galaxy Books S well behind a tablet that was already a year old at the time.<\/p>\n

Still, the pandemic has tweaked Qualcomm\u2019s value proposition. Are people taking day-long flights? Well, possibly to a remote cabin for distance learning, where cellular connectivity and long battery life are more precious than anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 also includes Qualcomm\u2019s Aqstic echo cancellation and noise suppression\u2014technologies Intel has been touting with its 10th-gen Ice Lake and 11th-gen Tiger Lake chips, specifically to reduce the dull roar permeating home work.\u00a0The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G supports a pair of 4K displays via a USB-C\u00a0 dock, too.<\/p>\n

The integrated Spectra ISP supports up to 32MP user-facing cameras and 4K HDR\u2014key upgrades for home workers stuck on Microsoft Teams, though the Spin 5\u2019s press materials didn\u2019t even mention the webcam. (To be fair, Microsoft Teams doesn\u2019t yet<\/a> have a native version for Windows on Arm, and Zoom\u2019s Windows on Arm version doesn\u2019t appear to be quite ready.)<\/p>\n