Today Qualcomm is making a reasonably surprising SoC announcement within the type of the brand new Snapdragon 870. The chip is a reasonably odd launch in Qualcomm’s chipset line-up in that that is truly an element derived from final yr’s Snapdragon 865 collection, with the brand new mannequin being a brand new silicon bin that ups the clock frequencies for a small increase in efficiency, despite the fact that it’s getting a mannequin identify that might point out extra substantial adjustments (of which there aren’t).
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SKUs | ||||
| SoC | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 865+ |
Snapdragon 870 |
|
| CPU | 1x Cortex A77 @ 2.84GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @ ?MHz |
1x Cortex A77 @ 3.09GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @ ?MHz |
1x Cortex A77 @ 3.2GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @ ?MHz |
|
| GPU | Adreno 650 @ 587 MHz | Adreno 650 @ 670MHz | ||
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 698
15 TOPS AI |
|||
| Memory Controller |
4x 16-bit CH
@ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB/s 3MB system stage cache |
|||
| ISP/Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP
1x 200MP 64MP ZSL or 2x 25MP ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst seize |
|||
| Encode/ Decode |
8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265
Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording |
|||
| Integrated Modem | none (Paired with exterior X55 solely) (LTE Category 24/22) (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) |
|||
| Mfc. Process | TSMC 7nm (N7P) |
|||
Still being based mostly off the “SM8250” silicon chip design that we noticed employed within the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865+ final yr, the brand new Snapdragon 870 can also be a part of this household, with it being the “AC” suffix SKU on the aforementioned half mannequin quantity.
The specification adjustments in comparison with the Snapdragon 865+ which was launched final summer season are reasonably restricted and, solely concern the prime CPU core: The quickest Cortex-A77 core right here goes up from 3.09GHz to three.2GHz.
Qualcomm’s rationale for calling it the Snapdragon 870 is solely that they didn’t wish to go the route of utilizing one thing like a “Snapdragon 865 Plus Plus”, although I might argue that calling it a “Snapdragon 865 Pro” or “Snapdragon 866” might need been a bit extra consultant of what the chip is.
The launch of this new SKU is kind of bizarre, because it’s the primary time ever that Qualcomm has introduced a refresh of a last-generation half following the announcement and business launch of their newest flagship SoC, that being the newer Snapdragon 888.
In at this time’s press launch, Qualcomm shares that key prospects corresponding to Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi might be making use of the Snapdragon 870 in a number of flagship units this yr. That’s additionally certainly fairly bizarre, as up to now we’ve hardly ever seen distributors launch new telephones based mostly on a past-year SoC design.
One principle I had is that as a result of this era we haven’t but seen a successor to the Snapdragon 765 (which had been introduced in 2019 in tandem with the 865), and that possibly as an alternative of creating a devoted SoC in that “premium” SoC vary, the corporate may recycle previous-year flagship SoCs, a tactic which for my part may very well be completely legitimate and viable. The firm nevertheless dismissed the concept, disclosing that the brand new 870 not meant to interchange the 765, and {that a} true successor to the 765 might be coming additional down the road.
So plainly this yr we’ll be seeing new modern smartphone designs with each the Snapdragon 888 in addition to the Snapdragon 870 within the flagship phase, which might be fairly fascinating to see how that performs out when it comes to efficiency, function,…
