Better security and privacy will be the aim of Qualcomm's latest version of its most popular Snapdragon mobile processor, the Snapdragon 820, which will feature the company's very own Smart Protect technology. This comes at a very important time, as smartphone hackers get more clever, and more manipulative at side swiping what little malware we have on our devices. The Smart Protect technology approaches security internally, by recognizing abnormal behaviors to the user. Computer World gives the examples of an app taking a photo even though the display is off and locked, or an app attempting to send a text message without any user interaction. Both behaviors will now be caught.

What we get from this will be demonstrated in devices suited with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor, particularly smartphones on the high-end spectrum. Most current Snapdragon-powered smartphones sport the 810 chip, but the 820 chip is said to have stepped it up a few notches, including a big improvement on both power and battery life. Additionally, machine learning via Zeroth technology, as Qualcomm calls it, will be how the processor fights malware. Zeroth technology, explained by Forbes, is “technology capable of real-time, cognitive computing”.

The 64-bit quad-core processor, which has speeds of up to 2.2GHz, and is paired with the Adreno 530 GPU and Hexagon 680 digital signal processor (DSP), has a new and more efficient way of handling the device's computing (Engadget). This “heightened awareness” watches the behavior of the applications running on the device in real time, seeking out suspicious behavior on a level that can catch it quick, and without an internet connection.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) powers more smartphones than any other type of processor, so we should expect this new tech to live up to its credible name. Malware protection is becoming so sophisticated, it has been surpassing desktop security software on certain levels. On top of that, the Snapdragon 820 is “being positioned by Qualcomm as the premium-tier smartphone SoC that will enable the best possible VR, photography, and computer vision experiences in mobile”, says Forbes. It looks like this chip has some serious business to bring to the table next year. Surely, this could be enough to coax Qualcomm's usual customers into sticking with next gen Snapdragon, especially with malware protection under its belt.