Qualcomm has updated the Snapdragon G series for 2025 to power more handheld gaming PCs in the future.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, G2 Gen 2, and G1 Gen 2 will compete with the mobile chips from Intel and AMD and will be spotted from handheld gaming PCs from popular brands like OneXPlayer, AYANEO, and Retroid Pocket.
Let’s first look at the most powerful of the three, the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3 Gen 3. It has eight Kyro cores that consist of 1x prime core, 5x performance cores, and 2x efficiency cores.
It also has an Adreno 32 GPU like its predecessor, FastConnect 7800 with the latest WiFi 7 standard and Bluetooth 5.3, and supports up to QHD+ displays at 144Hz refresh rate.
As per Qualcomm, it provides up to 30% faster CPU and 28% GPU performance. It also supports Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen, a fully dynamic global illumination and reflections system.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 still uses 8x Kyro cores but only has 4x performance cores. It now has 3x efficiency cores but still has 1x prime core. The GPU has been upgraded to an Adreno A22 (from Adreno A21) that offers 3.8x better performance, with the same connectivity and display support as the G3 Gen 3.
Both the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 and G2 Gen 2 have support for Qualcomm Snapdragon Game Super Resolution and Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0.
Finally, we have the Qualcomm Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 with Kyro cores consisting of 2x performance cores and 6x efficiency cores, upgraded Adreno A12, Bluetooth 5.1 and up to FHD+ 120Hz displays. Sadly, it’s still at WiFi 5.
It boasts substantial CPU performance improvements of up to 80% and 25% in GPU.
We expect these new chips to power upcoming handheld gaming PCs. In fact, we already saw the AYANEO Pocket S2, which is the first to have the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3.