24 PCWorld JANUARY 2021NEWS INSIDE THE SNAPDRAGON^888
when buying a smartphone. With the
Snapdragon 888 you’ll see an upgrade in
how the smartphone camera captures images
and video: faster and smarter focusing, better
low-light capabilities, as well as
computational HDR for 4K video. It’s all
enabled by the new Spectra 580 image
processor within the Snapdragon 888.
The Spectra 580 will be able to capture
three 28 MP still images from three
smartphone cameras, simultaneously. Both
4K/120-fps video capture and playback are
supported (at 12 MP @ 20 fps), or, a user will
be able to shoot 120 still images in a second.
All told, Qualcomm claims that the Spectra
580 is 35 percent faster than its predecessor,
capable of handling 2.7 gigapixels per
second.
It’s the triple-engine capability that
Qualcomm really believes makes a difference,however. Previous
Spectra ISPs allowed a
phone to capture images
and video from two of
three cameras
simultaneously: even with
three lenses to choose
from: wide, ultrawide,
and telephoto. The
Spectra 580 allows all
three cameras to capture
at once, meaning you’ll
be able to switch among
them on the fly. Video
using a Snapdragon 888-powered phone will
also be able to be captured and played back at
120 fps, a capability that the previous
Snapdragon 865 lacked.
Recording three different images at once
also means that the smartphone camera can
create a composite of those three different
images, the basis of HDR. So-called
“staggered HDR” sensors have been used in
other cameras but are making their way toA triple-engine image signal processor is what makes the Qualcomm
Snapdragon 888’s camera tick, the company says.