60%
Plausible
Each year, Qualcomm introduces a new upscaling technology that’s marketed as a game-changing feature, with the company now rumored to bring AI Frame Fusion exclusively to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. While we should be excited for what the feature brings to the table, we’ve also realized that without any meaningful use cases, with the most important one being increased gaming performance, the feature will practically be useless.
Standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 to miss out on AI Frame Fusion due to the lack of Matrix ALU blocks
Similar to how the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro will have exclusive support for LPDDR6 RAM, Qualcomm’s more powerful 2nm SoC will also bring more advanced upscaling and frame generation features than the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The reason for this exclusivity is pointed out by Reptalica, who published a boatload of details surrounding the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro.
The Adreno 850 GPU’s shader processor found in the top-end SoC will sport two dedicated Matrix ALU blocks that are missing from the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. While these blocks are intended to accelerate the graphics memory, also known as GMEM, they also enable Qualcomm to incorporate AI Frame Fusion. Based on the report, there will be two modes; the first one is a super-resolution mode, upscaling an output resolution of 1080p to 1440p.
This will become possible by combining motion vectors, a depth buffer, a low-resolution color buffer, and a previously rendered frame. For the second mode, it’ll work similarly to NVIDIA’s Frame Generation technology, using the information from two frames and injecting an AI-generated frame in between those two to increase framerate while consuming a minimum amount of power.
The report mentions that these modes will enable the use of the Matrix ALUs paired with the GPU’s GMEM to improve efficiency, hinting that the actual graphics processor won’t entirely be handling the weight of the rendered frames. AI Frame Fusion certainly sounds like a step in the right direction for Qualcomm to accelerate the adoption of upscaling and frame generation, but we’re afraid that the chipset maker’s efforts will be in vain.
After all, the primary use of this technology will be in AAA games, or lack thereof on the Android platform. The only silver lining we can see is if Qualcomm partners with emulation software developers like GameHub and Winlator to integrate AI Frame Fusion that can be triggered at the user’s will. If Qualcomm intends to support this feature through native titles only, it’s better if the company brings some other exclusive addition to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro.
We’ve previously reported that with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 supported by a larger surface area and sufficient cooling, as is the case with REDMAGIC’s Astra 2 tablet, the emulation performance can rival and even beat the same games running natively on gaming handhelds like the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme-powered ROG Xbox Ally X. Again, the future is only bright if Qualcomm takes the necessary initiative.
News Source: Notebookcheck
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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