- Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 870 processor.
- The new chipset is a continuation of the Snapdragon 865 series.
- It's essentially a Snapdragon 865 Plus with a clock speed improvement.
Rumors circulated last year that Qualcomm might be working on a lite version of its Snapdragon 875/888 flagship silicon, and it's finally time to see what the company has to offer. Today Qualcomm officially launched the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870.
The Snapdragon 870 should not be viewed as a Snapdragon 888 "Lite", but rather a continuation of the Snapdragon 865 series. Let's call it Snapdragon 865 Plus Plus. The only big difference between the two chipsets is that the new processor has a clock speed of 3.2 GHz for the top-end CPU core, which is 100 MHz above the old chip.
Otherwise we have the same three-stage CPU setup (one Cortex-A77 core with 3.2 GHz, three Cortex-A77 CPU cores with 2.4 GHz and four lightweight Cortex-A55 cores with 1.8 GHz), Adreno 650 GPU, external Snapdragon X55 modem (with mmWave and Sub-6 GHz support) and 7 nm design as Snapdragon 865 Plus. The GPU in particular is still one of the most powerful processors for Android phones today. Hence, expect smooth performance in advanced 3D games and emulators.
Snapdragon 870: Many common specifications
Recognition: Supplied by Qualcomm
These well-known specifications can also be found in the machine learning and camera categories due to the Hexagon 698 digital signal processor of the old chip and the Spectra 480 (ISP) image signal processor. In particular, the ISP allows support of up to 200 MP camera, 8K / 30fps video recording, essentially unlimited 960fps slow motion recording and simultaneous recording of 4K video and 64MP photos.
Other notable features include Quick Charge 4 Plus features (no lightning-fast Quick Charge 5 here), support for 144Hz refresh rate on QHD +, HDR10 + support, and Qualcomm TrueWireless technology for earbuds. It looks like the Snapdragon 870 lacks the FastConnect 6900 connectivity suite of the 865 Plus and instead chooses the 6800 suite of the original Snapdragon 865. This means that while you still have Bluetooth 5.2, you also have Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 6E on the Plus chipset.
Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon 870 will power "flagship" devices from customers such as Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo's Iqoo brand and Xiaomi. The Motorola Edge S device is likely to be the Motorola Snapdragon 870 phone in question, as it became known last week. Additionally, a November 2020 leak by frequent tipster Max Jambor points to the existence of a OnePlus 9E, making it the most obvious candidate for a Snapdragon 870-powered OnePlus device.
Qualcomm says the first phones powered by the platform will be announced in the first quarter of 2021, so we won't have to wait long for this updated chipset.
We hope that the Snapdragon 870 is competitively priced, as in that case it could play an important role in the affordable flagship segment. And for what it's worth Android Authority Readers overwhelmingly supported the idea of a Snapdragon 800 Lite series processor when we released the survey last year.
Next: Qualcomm has just spent $ 1.4 billion to compete with Apple's arm laptops
