San Diego based Qualcomm needs a lift, something extra to offer, and hopefully after announcing its very new smartphone processor at the 2015 SIGGRAPH Conference, we can keep our fingers crossed that this could be it. The flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 820, is what Qualcomm is planning to put in many high-end mobile devices by the first half of next year. Tablets, smartphones, and even virtual reality should be seeing the likes of Qualcomm, which is rumored to be integrated with certain visual computing components.

It's easy for a company to hype up a new product as much as it wants, but what customers generally care about is better performance and better battery life. Along with promising this, Qualcomm also wanted to integrate a more visually stimulating mobile experience by upgrading its GPU architecture and Image Signal Processor (ISP). In a recent blog, Qualcomm claims its new Adreno 530 graphics card will deliver up to 40 percent better graphics performance than its previous Adreno 430. Qualcomm's new Spectra camera dual-ISP will offer 14-bit sensors, as well as 4K video resolution at 60 frames per second. An official statement from the company's VP Tim Leland says, its “next-generation user experience” will bring an “entirely new level of imaging to smartphones” (The Next Web).

These big changes are of course intended for better smartphone cameras, as well as faster and more responsive graphics on the web, in videos, and in games. Additionally, this new processor will be “faster than any current Android smartphone, while allowing the battery to last longer on a single charge”, says Live Mint. We could also see the Snapdragon 820 in smart TVs, as well as the next generation of Apple TV and Amazon Fire. It isn't expected to launch until next year, but that give Qualcomm enough time to provide us with a few more details about the CPU and other components. For now, we've got a lot to look forward to in the visual department.