Many of the top Android phones of 2022 will work Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Generation 1but we’re already hearing rumors of a possible Gen 2 update next year – and improved video codec support could be a major update.
According to sources ProtocolQualcomm plans to add support for the AV1 codec with open video in the processor, which should be released later this year, which for us is very similar to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
You may not have heard much about AV1 so far, but it’s a video storage method that offers better compression than modern standards, and that certainly means it can be delivered over the Internet faster. This means that Android 2023 devices should be able to transfer videos with higher resolution faster.
Compliance with standards
One of the biggest fans of AV1 is Google, and the standard is widely used on YouTube. It was also adopted by Netflix, although so far other major streaming platforms – including Disney Plus and HBO Max – have not switched to AV1.
Google is also advancing the standard for new Android TV devices, and while it’s not supported by any Chromecast on the market, AV1 support may well appear in the next Chromecast with Google TV that opens.
From the information obtained by the protocol, including the internal name of the chip with AV1 support, which is SM8550, it seems that we will not consider it as a feature in Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus an update is expected in the coming months.
Analysis: what AV1 means to you
It may be hard to get carried away with changing video codec standards, but when you think about how many videos we broadcast online each day, it becomes clear how important a new and improved standard can be.
Simply put, AV1 means improved compression and smaller file sizes for video without losing quality. This will be an advantage not only for today’s streams, but also for 8K high-definition streams as they become more common on the Internet.
AV1 can be 30% more efficient than the current standard HEVC default codec (H.265). It was also designed to be free, making it cheaper for device manufacturers, video platforms and (hopefully) end users. The problem is that device manufacturers will not add support for AV1 until it provides a large amount of video, and video platforms will not invest in the switch until the hardware appears.
Now the change should start faster when companies like Qualcomm connect to the Exynos 2100 and Exynos 2200 chips (the latter provides the feature Galaxy S22 in some regions), Samsung has been supporting the AV1 since 2021.