Qualcomm announces flagship Snapdragon 888 chip with integrated 5G modem

Chipmaker Qualcomm, today, announced its newest chipset for smartphones. The Snapdragon 888 will run on flagship phones in 2021 and has a new 5G modem from the company. Unlike last year, the Qualcomm X60 is an integrated modem, meaning manufacturers won’t have to add a separate modem chip on phones.

The company had faced widespread criticism last year for not offering an integrated modem. While the company didn’t integrate the modem into its Snapdragon 865 (last year’s flagship chip), it didn’t offer manufacturers the choice to use different and cheaper modems with the processor. This, in turn, raised prices of smartphones using the chip last year.

The Snapdragon 888 is built on the 5nm fabrication process, which promises more efficient performance. Real world boosts should be meager though, which has been the case with most smartphone processors in recent years.