While 5G expansion is advancing at a tremendous pace in some parts of the world, Qualcomm believes that in some markets, such as India, there is still a growing demand for 4G smartphones. And that’s why, despite this 5G push, Qualcomm does not abandon the previous generation of a mobile network.
The company unveils three new mid-range chipsets: the gaming-focused Snapdragon 720G, the mid-range Snapdragon 662, and the economical Snapdragon 460 during a media event in New Delhi.
In addition to 4G, all the three chips have Wi-Fi 6 connectivity as standard, Bluetooth 5.1 and they are the first to support India’s NavIC satellite positioning system. They also feature the Qualcomm AI engine, which is supposed to improve artificial intelligence for photography, voice assistants, and virtually always-on scenarios.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G – Faster mid-range gaming smartphones
With the Snapdragon 720G, Qualcomm focuses on those features that are particularly important for gaming smartphones. The SoC is composed of a processor engraved in 8 nm. It is compatible with HDR screens, allows recording of 4K videos, and capturing photos of 192 megapixels.
The integrated Snapdragon X15 LTE modem allows download speeds of up to 800 Mbit/s thanks to 4×4 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G will be available in the first quarter of 2020.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 – Better Photos & AI
The Snapdragon 662 is more focused on the entry-level. It can be integrated into a smartphone with three rear cameras and incorporates photo functions linked to artificial intelligence. It is also possible to switch seamlessly between the three lenses. Thanks to the support for the significantly more efficient HEIF format, the file size can be reduced by almost half without visibly losing quality.
The chip also allows the acceleration of artificial intelligence, for example, for speech recognition or for the night mode of the camera. In addition, the modem has been updated to the Snapdragon X11, which supports download speeds of up to 390 Mbit/s. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 is expected to be commercially available later this year.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 – twice as fast entry-level smartphones
With the Snapdragon 460, Qualcomm promises massive performance improvements for the affordable 4xx series. Qualcomm is installing performance CPU cores for the first time in the series, and thanks to a new GPU architecture and the Adreno 610 chip, performance can be expected to be 70% higher. The third generation HVX AI engine is also responsible for this.
The Qualcomm Spectra 340 ISP allows the use of a triple camera; the integrated Snapdragon X11 LTE modem achieves download speeds of up to 390 Mbit/s. However, it will take some time before consumers can benefit from these improvements to the affordable 4xx series – Qualcomm states that the Snapdragon 460 will not be available in large quantities until the end of the year.
