Qualcomm’s flagship processors like the Snapdragon 845 are widely used by the industry for high-end devices. The company hasn’t bundled a dedicated neural processing unit or NPU with its chips so far. AI processing thus takes place on the main chip along with other tasks. That might change with the company’s flagship chip for next year which is expected to feature a dedicated NPU.
A dedicated neural processing unit will mean that the processing of AI tasks will take place on a separate portion of the chip. This separation of tasks not only improves performance but also allows for more advanced AI support.
Qualcomm’s next flagship processor – the Snapdragon 855 – is reportedly going to feature a dedicated NPU. It won’t be the first chip to have a dedicated NPU since Huawei has already done that with the Kirin 970 that it launched at IFA 2017.
Qualcomm is now expected to do the same for its chip next year. It will be the first chip from the company to feature a dedicated neural processing unit. The range of AI functions that this implementation will enable remains to be seen but on the face of it, it’s going to be better compared to the current implementation.
Bear in mind, though, that this is based on third-party reports. Qualcomm itself hasn’t confirmed any details about its next flagship processor.
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