Let’s face it. There’s a bit of a bottleneck when it comes to delivering higher and higher quality VR content.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset hopes to make VR, AR and MR consumption a bit better, with 6 DoF support, foveated rendering, and a 120 Hz refresh rateThe frequency at which an image is drawn on screen during playback, expressed as the number of cycles per second (hertz)... More.
In addition to its new Kryo 385 CPU architecture, the Snapdragon 845 also has an upgraded Adreno 630 GPU offering a 30 percent improvement in graphics and video rendering–and a reduction in power consumption–compared to the Adreno 540.
The Adreno 630 will also support displays resolutions up to 2K x 2K (though whether or not your smartphone’s display will support that, too, is still a question) and a refresh rateThe frequency at which an image is drawn on screen during playback, expressed as the number of cycles per second (hertz)... More of 120 Hz.
That means that the chipset could fully support content with frame rates of up to 120 fps, a very valuable feature for VR and 360 video which can look and feel much more realistic at higher frame rates.
The Snapdragon 845 will also support foveated rendering via Adreno foveation. Meaning, it will reduce resolutionThe number of pixels in an image, typically presented as a ratio of the total pixels on x axis to the total pixels on th... More in your peripheral vision to devote attention to content directly in front of you, utilizing tile rendering, multiView rendering, fine grain preemption and eye tracking.
It will also support 6 DoF, with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).
Other features include amplified machine learning capabilities, advanced security features and improved multimedia capture (up to 480 fps video at 720p, 4K UHD at 60 fps versus 4K UHD at 30 fps with the Snapdragon 835, and 64x more high-dynamic range color information), among other features.
The Snapdragon 845 chipset will be implemented in Xiaomi’s next flagship smartphone, and it’s expected to be a part of other major manufacturers’ new releases in 2018.
