We're waiting for Quad HD resolution to make it to our smartphones, but Quad HD might be over before it could even take off because Qualcomm has made a point of its upcoming Snapdragon 805 being all about ultra-high-definition 4K displays.
The new Snapdragon 805 chipset, which is slated to be released sometime in late 2014, is going to be the successor to the Snapdragon 801 processor found in the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and OnePlus One. It has four Krait 450 cores that can run at up to 2.7GHz compared to the 801's 2.5GHz Krait 400.
What does this mean for you? It won't be long before you can start enjoying ultra-high-definition viewing and gaming experiences on your mobile with the 805, with what Qualcomm calls the first "end-to-end full 4K" chipset now on the horizon. While many of us enjoy high-quality photos and videos on 1920 x 1080p screens running on 800 or 801, a 4K display will provide even crisper, brighter graphics where subtle details such a blade of grass will jump off the screen.
"Our belief is that the 4K resolution will be driven by mobile," Tim McDonough, Qualcomm vice president of marketing, said in a preview event for the 805. "[Mobile] is inexpensive. It's very affordable. Mobile is one of the industries where the design cycles are very fast - the OEMs move remarkably fast - and consumers are fast. The TV cycle is 7-10 years - you buy a new one when the old one makes - but in the mobile space, people are dying for the next phone."
Qualcomm previewed its latest processor on a 9.7-inch tablet with 4K resolution, which is equivalent to 3840 x 2160p, and the experience was nothing short of awesome.
"The best example showed a recipe on a 4K tablet side-by-side with a 1080p tablet. The clarity on the 4K tablet was striking compared to the 1080p tablet; I felt like I was getting an eye test and switching from the hazier resolution of my current prescription to a sharper resolution that revealed just how fuzzy I was," Jessica Dolcourt of CNET says to describe her experience of reading text in 4K.
It's not all awesome graphics and text, though. At the heart of Qualcomm's new chipset is a built-in Adreno 420 GPU, which means the 805 can handle more data and provide better multi-tasking capabilities. It also means the processor can support video playback for 60fps above 1080p.
The Snapdragon 805 processor does not have its own built-in modem. Instead, Qualcomm paired it with the latest 9x35 Gobi LTE Cat 6 modem, which can handle far more data than the Cat 4. It doesn't mean you'll be having faster LTE once you get your hands on a device powered by the 805, but if carriers catch up, you'll be able to stream videos on your mobile with little to zero buffering.
