Qualcomm unveiled its latest flagship smartphone chipset, the Snapdragon 888, focusing on enhanced AI capabilities, improved ability to support high-end gaming and advanced image processing features.

The company took the wraps off the chipset in a virtual version of its regular two-day annual Snapdragon Tech Summit, with full information on the chipset’s specifications to be released later today (2 December).

Snapdragon 888 uses the third generation of its X60 5G Modem-RF System compatible with global bands for non-standalone and standalone operation. It also offers carrier aggregation, global multi-SIM and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing capabilities.

Drawing on popular differentials used by smartphone manufacturers in premium handsets, Qualcomm highlighted Snapdragon 888 provided improvements in key areas including “significant upgrades” in GPU performance to aid gaming; improved image capture speeds, which help “transform smartphones into professional quality cameras”; and a completely re-engineered AI engine Qualcomm said was a “pivotal leap forward”.

During the event Qualcomm executives were joined by a range of partners to discuss the use cases for the new innovations.

Sony Mobile Communications president Mitsuya Kishida pointed to the importance of delivering world-class gaming as part of its premium smartphone range, while Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun cited cutting edge AI, camera and gaming technologies as key for its upcoming flagship.