News

Qualcomm Unveils Latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Processor

The new chip features hardware ray tracing, powerful AI capability, Wi-Fi 7, and a ton of raw power.

Published

4 years ago

November 17, 2022

qualcomm unveils latest snapdragon 8 gen 2 processor

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit (held simultaneously in China and Hawaii) has kicked off in style this year, with the announcement of the company’s latest system-on-chip (SoC) smartphone processors. The newest line of chips is known as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and will deliver significant improvements in performance and efficiency, as well as being what Qualcomm describes as “purpose-built for AI.”

The new chip boasts a 4.35x improvement in performance and a staggering 60% boost to its power-per-watt efficiency. Snapdragon 8 gen 2 will also feature dedicated AI processing in the modem portion of the chip, improving throughput and range, and supporting 10Gbps speeds.

Graphics (GPU) performance will also receive a considerable spec bump, with the new chip featuring an improved Adreno GPU with hardware ray tracing that only draws a measly 5w of power. According to Qualcomm, the updated GPU also supports “Vulkan 1.3, HDR Vivid, Adaptive HDR, OLED aging compensation, and Unreal Engine 5 MetaHumans, with a 25% increase in performance and power efficiency.”

Other upgrades to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 include Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, dual Bluetooth, a new 3.2GHz Arm Cortex X3 high-performance core, and support for dynamic spatial audio.

AI Processing Power

snapdragon 8 gen 2 ai performance

As well as a substantial overall boost to specs, Qualcomm is keen to show off Snapdragon 8’s AI engine, which features a dedicated power plane and double the power from the chip’s tensor processing cores. Thanks to a feature known as Hexagon Direct Link, fast, real-time AI processing will be possible, which will aid the chip when put to work on complex tasks such as text-to-speech, photography, and other power-hungry computational tasks.

Improved Sensor Hub

Finally, Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 chip will also use its updated AI smarts to enable real-time monitoring, allowing devices equipped with the processor to utilize the camera even while sleeping. This feature will allow QR codes to be scanned, and add the ability to actively monitor user activity, meaning notifications won’t appear to unauthorized viewers.

So when can we expect manufacturers to start using the new Snapdragon chip? Qualcomm has already partnered with the likes of OnePlus, Motorola, Sony, and Asus. That means we might see newly updated phones shipping by the end of the year — though if you’re a Samsung fan, you might have to wait until 2023 to see the processor in action in the Galaxy S23 series.

News

NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

Published

1 day ago

October 5, 2026

Nour Nasir

neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

Also Read: In Kuwait, Your Surgeon Might Be Operating From Another Country

NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.