Qualcomm is said to have an upgrade for the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, known as the SC8280 or simply the Gen 3, in the works. The new chipset might appear in the form of devices such as next-gen Samsung Galaxy Book Gos or Surface Pro Xs (this time). In the meantime, it now seems it is to be found in a much less familiar Lenovo device in its current form.
The new Geekbench listing for this "Lenovo QRD" unambiguously references the 8cx Gen 3 by name. It runs Windows 11 (Home) and has a 2.69GHz clock-speed (possibly linked to the processor's rumored Gold+ core) and can use the OS' power plans, "Balanced" included. That is where the finer details for this new ARM processor Geekbench leak end, however.
Should it prove genuine, it would comprise a second known outing for the 8cx Gen 3 on Geekbench. That former leak also involved a "QRD", probably translating to 'Qualcomm Reference Device' then, as it likely does now. Then again, this updated, Lenovo-themed iteration involves the better benchmarking scores of the two.
The initial QRD leak indicated that the 8cx Gen3 was capable of breaking 900 in terms of single-core performance, with a multi-core score of just under 5,000. The processor's alleged comeback sees it comfortably beating both.
Therefore, while it still allegedly outdoes some counterparts from Intel, the Apple M1 remains out of its reach. Nevertheless, based on this new tip, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 is shaping up as a worthwhile upgrade over its second-gen predecessor.
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