Qualcomm, with its Snapdragon SoCs, has managed to become one of the key players in the smartphone market and tablets. And, although today it faces stiff competition with other integrated families such as Exynos, from Samsung, it is still a reference for many users, who, given the possibility of choosing between chips from this manufacturer or others, choose by devices that have the integrated Snapdragon.
To maintain such a relevant position in the market, it is essential, however, have a very dynamic catalog that is constantly evolving, presenting new SoCs every few months, which in turn allow smartphone manufacturers to offer more competitive terminals, regardless of the market segment they are targeting, from the top of the range to the entry-level range.
The latest example of this are the four new Snapdragon SoCs presented today by the company, which aim from the upper-middle range to the entry-level range. They are the Snapdragon 778G + 5G, Snapdragon 695 5G, Snapdragon 480+ 5G and Snapdragon 680 4G models.. Let’s see what each of them offers below.
If you stay up to date with the SoC market, you will have already deduced that the Snapdragon 778G + 5G It is the natural successor to the 778G 5G introduced last May. Inside we find a Kryo 670 CPU and an Adreno 642L GPU, the same as its predecessor, but in which its performance has been increased. Thus, if the CPU in the 778G reached 2.4 gigahertz, in this review the speed is increased to 2.5 gigahertz.
Next we find the Snapdragon 695 5G, which comes to succeed the SG690, presented in June last year, and which was an important step in the democratization of 5G connectivity. In this case we are talking about a major update, with important improvements compared to its predecessor, starting with the scale jump, because in this case we are talking about a SoC produced with a 6 nanometer lithography, compared to 8 in 690.
Inside we find a Kryo 660 CPU at 2.2 gigahertz, accompanied by a GPU Adreno 619 with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OPENCL 2.0 FP and Vulkan 1.1. In addition to the performance improvement, which Qualcomm figures at 15% on the CPU and 30% on the GPU, it adds full support for 5G networks, something that its predecessor suffered from. Otherwise it has a Hexagon 686 dedicated to artificial intelligence, Spectra 346T for photo and video management, and is compatible with QuickCharge 4+.
The next SoC featured is the Snapdragon 480+ 5G which, indeed, succeeds the SG480, presented in January of this year and which was a further step in the popularization of 5G. As in the case of the Snapdragon 778G + 5G, here too we find an evolution, rather than a major update. The most notable elements are a certain increase in the speed of your chips and improvements in the Internet connection
And closing the Qualcomm presentation, we find the Snapdragon 680 4G. As you may have already deduced from its name, it is the only one of the SoCs presented today that does not offer 5G connectivity, which already makes it clear that it is aimed at the entry range. It has a Kryo 265 CPU, with a speed of 2.4 gigahertz, accompanied by a Adreno 610 GPUwith support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OPENCL 2.0 FP and Vulkan 1.1. It also has a Hexagon 686 for AI, a Spectra 346 for image and video management and supports QuickCharge 4+ fast charging.
