Qualcomm's new upscaling tech will boost Android games to 4K 60FPS

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has done a lot to take Android games to the next level. Even the ROG Phone 7, a mobile gaming powerhouse, relies on the SoC. And it looks like the maker of the chip, Qualcomm, isn’t quite done with enhancing mobile gaming. The company is launching new tech that should give games a boost in resolution and performance while minimizing battery drain.

Today, Qualcomm announced via blog post that it is rolling out new upscaling tech for mobile gaming and XR products. The new tech is called Snapdragon Game Super Resolution (GSR), and it’s aimed at maximizing mobile game performance and battery life. GSR won’t just be for Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones either, it will also bring improvements to phones with older chips as well.

Upscaling is beneficial to performance and battery life because it allows a game to run at lower resolutions without sacrificing quality. As the blog points out, most upscaling techniques use bilinear interpolation (bilerp). However, it “can compromise on graphics quality by blurring edges and details.”

According to the corporation, GSR uses a new technique to raise resolution, frame rate, and battery life. It is described as a “single pass spatial upscaling technique optimized for Snapdragon Adreno graphics processing units (GPUs).” Most techniques tend to require two passes. So this single-pass system is capable of reducing memory usage, bandwidth, latency, and battery usage.

Qualcomm claims that its new tech can boost Android games from 1080p to 4K and 30FPS to 60 and over FPS. It also states GSR delivers “two times performance improvement compared to other mobile upscaling solutions.”

Android games and XR products with GSR should start rolling out later this year. The company has already partnered with a number of companies to bring GSR to titles such as Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, Jade Dynasty: New Fantasy, and Farming Simulator 23 Mobile.