Qualcomm Announces a Pile of New Snapdragon Chips

Qualcomm announces a pile of new Snapdragon chips in its entry-level and mid-tier product lines: The Snapdragon 778 Plus, 695, 680, and 480 Plus, offering device makers more options when it comes to choosing the best processor for a phone and theoretically more options for customers when looking to buy one.

The most notable new chip is the Snapdragon 695, which replaces the Snapdragon 690 in Qualcomm's lineup. Unlike the previous model, the Snapdragon 695 will support the mmWave and sub-6GHz versions of 5G, which should help improve data speeds even on cheaper phones (which have so far tended to omit mmWave support). There is also a considerable increase in performance: Qualcomm promises a 15 percent improvement in CPU performance and up to 30 percent faster graphics processing compared to the 690.

There is also the curious addition of the Snapdragon 680, a new LTE-only SoC that is based on the same more modern 6nm process as the 695. It is not on par with the new 5G chip that Qualcomm announced but is meant to help. fill the gap in Qualcomm's line for companies that are still looking for 4G-only devices (which can help cut costs in regions that don't yet have 5G deployments).

The other two chips are updated versions of existing modes. There's the Snapdragon 778G Plus, an upgraded version of the standard 778G model that the company announced earlier this year, and the Snapdragon 480 Plus, which updates the existing Snapdragon 480. Both models promise improved performance compared to their non-plus counterparts. although the earnings are small. The 778G Plus, for example, sees its CPU go from 2.4GHz to 2.5GHz, while the 480 Plus increases the clock speed from 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz.

The four new chip platforms are expected to launch later in Q4 2021, with partners HMD, Honor, Motorola, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi expressing interest in using at least some of the new Snapdragon chips.