Snapdragon chipsets are the main component of most Android smartphones across the world. Samsung, along with its Exynos chipset, also makes use of the Snapdragon chipsets for many of its phones. For instance, similar to previous generation smartphones, Samsung's recently launched Galaxy S22 series comes in two variants, one supported by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and the other with Exynos 2200.
Although this may not be related to the Galaxy S22 series, there is some good news for the next Samsung Galaxy flagship devices powered by Snapdragon SoCs. According to the latest report by Protocol, your next Samsung flagship, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, could come with AV1 decoding support.
Samsung Exynos already supports the AV1 codec
Notably, Qualcomm is playing a bit of catch-up here. Because MediaTek has been supporting the AV1 codec since 2020's Dimensity 1000 series chipsets. In fact, Samsung itself started supporting the AV1 codec since the Exynos 2100 series.
This is a piece of big news considering the fact that the support for AV1 decoding in future Samsung flagships will allow for efficient video streaming. YouTube and Netflix already support it.
AV1 codec is approximately 30% more efficient than the H.265 codec
As per industry sources, the next-generation Snapdragon chipset, code-named SM8550, will support the AV1 codec. The code name for the next flagship chipset, i.e., SM8550, goes in line with this year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset model number, i.e., the SM8450. Last year's Snapdragon 888 was the SM8350, and so on.
The report also states that this flagship chip will arrive at the end of this year, which is the time when Qualcomm usually releases its top-of-the-line chipset. The inclusion of the AV1 codec in the next Snapdragon chipset will result in higher video quality at the same file size. It is approximately 30% more efficient than the existing H.265 codec.
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