Protocol reports that Qualcomm will finally jump on the AV1 video codec bandwagon next year. AV1 is the web’s next open, royalty-free video codec, and widespread adoption will require hardware support from the world’s chip vendors.
Qualcomm’s 2022 flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, doesn’t support AV1. Samsung’s Exynos 2200 managed to ship the video codec this year in international versions of the Galaxy S22, while the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 SoC has been shipping in phones for over a year now with AV1 support. Apple is a founding member of the AV1 Alliance, but its devices also don’t support the codec yet.
The report says Qualcomm’s “upcoming flagship Snapdragon mobile processor”—model number “SM8550″—will support AV1. That would probably be called the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2” SoC, due out in 2023.