Qualcomm debuts new Snapdragon G handheld gaming PC chips to compete with Intel and AMD

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Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, and Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 enter the ring.

Snapdragon G Series
(Image credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm expanded its Snapdragon G series with three new gaming chips targeting handheld devices. The trio, consisting of the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, and Snapdragon G1 Gen 2, will power the next generation of offerings from OEMs, including Ayaneo, OneXPlayer, and Retroid Pocket.

The Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 leads the pack with an octa-core Kryo CPU consisting of one Prime, five Performance, and two Efficiency cores. It features the Adreno A32 GPU with ray tracing support. Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 offers 30% faster CPU performance and 28% better GPU performance than the previous generation, the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 from 2023.

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Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
News Editor, RAM Reviewer & SSD Technician

Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kealii123
    Anyone know how these iGPUs stack up to the one in the latest Snapdragon Elite?
    Reply
  • ezst036
    I'd like to see one with an ARM port of SteamOS 3.7, which is rumored to be coming to a general release soon.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    The way Qualcomm is obfuscating what these are I just assume they're Snapdragon 8 derivatives (if not the same chip).
    Reply
  • kealii123
    thestryker said:
    The way Qualcomm is obfuscating what these are I just assume they're Snapdragon 8 derivatives (if not the same chip).
    I'd like to think they are cheaper (binned) versions of the 8 Elite, but with lower CPU core counts while retaining the same iGPU, but who knows
    Reply
  • atomicWAR
    Yeah but will their iGPU drivers still be trash? Until they properly tune their drivers I can't see these being very good at gaming and that's before you consider the fact they are arm based using a translation layer to run x86/x64 which hinders CPU performance a fair bit. Regardless happy to see more players in the PC space.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    kealii123 said:
    I'd like to think they are cheaper (binned) versions of the 8 Elite, but with lower CPU core counts while retaining the same iGPU, but who knows
    They're not because these are labeled as being "Kryo" cores which means they're Arm IP instead of in house. The GPUs use a completely different naming convention too so until they announce hardware specifics it'll be hard to determine what they are, but it's unlikely to be the 830.
    Reply
  • erazog
    Unless it runs Steam, its not a competitor to Intel/AMD handhelds, Android doesn't count.

    They could in theory put Windows on it but I doubt MS/Qualcomm would be too keen on the idea, no -one makes Arm native games other than Android.
    Reply
  • circadia
    atomicWAR said:
    Yeah but will their iGPU drivers still be trash? Until they properly tune their drivers I can't see these being very good at gaming and that's before you consider the fact they are arm based using a translation layer to run x86/x64 which hinders CPU performance a fair bit. Regardless happy to see more players in the PC space.
    in their defense, you could just use something like 3rd-party drivers (like Turnip for Snapdragon 6/7/8xx or 6/7/8 Gen x, for example). Those things are used a lot by mobile gamers, particularly ones doing Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 2/Windows emulation.
    Reply
  • dalek1234
    What is the use for these? It runs Android. So this is basically an Android tablet, or a larger version of an Android phone, with physical controls, which runs Android games. Will the larger screen improve my Angry Birds aim, like the Window's version of Angry Birds did?

    Qualcomm is trying to join the hand-held gaming frenzy, with a device that has extremely limited uses.
    Reply
  • circadia
    dalek1234 said:
    What is the use for these? It runs Android. So this is basically an Android tablet, or a larger version of an Android phone, with physical controls, which runs Android games. Will the larger screen improve my Angry Birds aim, like the Window's version of Angry Birds did?

    Qualcomm is trying to join the hand-held gaming frenzy, with a device that has extremely limited uses.
    for... mobile games, obviously? I think the chips are made to be targeted at the Asian market (India/China/South-East Asia), which has a *lot* of mobile gamers playing Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Arena of Valor (basically just League of Legends but mobile and such), etc.
    and, well, Google's been trying to push for more gaming on Android. Android 16 will be the first version of Android to include Vulkan API natively, which means porting PC games to mobile devices will be easier to be done.
    Reply