Qualcomm has introduced three new Mobile Platforms today for smartphones at an event in New Delhi, India, and the new chipsets cater to three different segments, right from entry-level budget smartphones to higher mid-range devices. This includes the 400 series, 600 series, and even the 700 series, with an emphasis on improving connectivity and AI capabilities as well as providing a well-rounded entertainment experience.
The three chipsets, namely Snapdragon 460, 662, and 720G, have better 4G connectivity, Wi-Fi 6 support with WPA3 encryption, and even better navigation and geo-location services thanks to NavIC support, which is India’s homegrown GPS satellite system. They even sport dedicated AI Engines along with the Qualcomm Sensing Hub. Let’s take a closer look at all three chipsets and see where they slot in.
Snapdragon 460
The Snapdragon 460 is an upgrade to the Snapdragon 450 mobile platform that powered entry-level budget smartphones in 2018 and 2019. While the Snapdragon 450 was decently capable, the Snapdragon 460 received a big performance boost by up to 70% in the form of custom Kryo 240 cores. There are four performance-oriented Cortex A73 cores clocked at 1.6GHz and four power-efficient Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It is manufactured on the 11nm processor node. The Snapdragon 460 is Qualcomm’s first budget-oriented CPU to come with Kryo cores, the Adreno 610 GPU which provides up to 60% performance gains over the last-gen Snapdragon 450, and a Spectra 340 ISP. There’s support for Quick Charge 3 too. The Snapdragon 460 is a major upgrade due to the fact that A73 cores are highly powerful and were usually found only in smartphones priced above the Rs. 10,000 to Rs 15,000 mark, which is now about to change.
Snapdragon 662
Now this one is slightly confusing. Snapdragon 665 was a brilliant successor to the Snapdragon 660, and manufacturers were providing that chip even in smartphones priced under Rs. 10,000. The Snapdragon 662 is very similar to the Snapdragon 665 in terms of performance but has a better ISP for image processing. The Kryo 260 architecture, with four Cortex A73 cores clocked at 2GHz and four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz, handles day-to-day performance with the Adreno 610 stepping in with regards to gaming. It comes with the Hexagon 683 DSP and the Spectra 340T ISP with support for true 48MP photo capture, and of course, Quick Charge 3 support is present. It is also based on the 11nm manufacturing process.
Snapdragon 720G
This is the most interesting of the lot. The Snapdragon 720G, as the suffix suggests, is a gaming-oriented chipset and fits right in between the now-old Snapdragon 710 and the new Snapdragon 730G. It’s a sweet spot for brands who don’t want to use the Snapdragon 710 because its old and who don’t want to use the Snapdragon 730G because it jumps to the slightly more premium bracket. The 8 nm-based chip has 8 Kryo 465 CPU cores – two powerful Cortex A76 cores clocked at 2.3GHz and six Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The ISP on this chip is a revamped Spectra 350L which has support for a whopping 192MP photo capture. There’s also support for Quick Charge 4+.
We should ideally be seeing phones with the Snapdragon 720G as early as this quarter itself, whereas phones with Snapdragon 460 and Snapdragon 662 will start shipping by the end of 2020. Both Xiaomi and Realme are keen to use these chipsets, so be on the lookout for affordable gaming smartphones from these brands. Maybe the Redmi Note 9 Pro?
Related Read: NavIC vs GPS