Snapdragon 888 revolutionizes mobile photography

Smartphone photography has made some incredible leaps in the past few years. So much so, that it’s one of the primary reasons why the dedicated camera sales are dropping at a fairly consistent pace. With this week’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 reveal, it seems like smartphone cameras and mobile photography is going to keep improving.

“Qualcomm drives Android premium experiences with the Snapdragon 8-series family of products, across all key technology areas. With leading camera/video features and specs, we allow our OEM partners to push to constantly push the Android photography experience beyond others,” a Qualcomm representative told PetaPixel.

Improving Andriod mobile photography

One of the most exciting features is the processor’s Qualcomm Spectra 580 Triple Image Signal Processor (ISP). This is capable of capturing images and videos from three cameras simultaneously at up to 2.87 gigapixels per second. Additionally, the ISP allows smartphones to shoot 20 frames per second burst snapshots at full resolution and to shoot three 4K videos with the same time metric.

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 888 brings about a monumental upgrade to mobile photography. Typically, smartphones today house at least two cameras. Most of the time they have three or more cameras. Smartphones equipped with the Snapdragon 888 will be able to capture images at three different focal lengths simultaneously, without hurting the phone’s performance. Additionally, the new Snapdragon allows users to capture 4K in computational HDR, improving images’ overall color, contrast, and detail.

When can we expect to see the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 implemented into devices?

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip will start being featured in Android devices early next year. Currently, a few manufacturers have access to the Snapdragon 888. Once the chip starts being used in real-world devices, we will see how much the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 delivers on its promise and pushes mobile photography forward.

Image courtesy: Qualcomm

Sean Berry
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is Videomaker's managing editor.

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