Qualcomm Unveils Four New Mid-Tier And Budget Chipsets 

Although we hear mainly about Qualcomm’s high-end mobile SoCs, the company also has an extensive portfolio of mid-range and budget chipsets. The chipmaker is now announcing four new SoCs catering to these segments.

These include the Snapdragon 480 Plus, 680, 695, and the 778G Plus. Qualcomm wants to provide more chip options to manufacturers of budget or mid-range devices. This could also benefit consumers as they can choose between multiple affordable smartphone variants.

The Snapdragon 695 is receiving the most attention thanks to its hardware capabilities (via). This chipset replaces the Snapdragon 690 in Qualcomm’s lineup and supports both sub-6GHz 5G and mmWave frequencies. The company said that this chip uses the newer 6nm manufacturing process.

In theory, the SD695 should allow mid-tier phones to receive significantly improved 5G speeds. Qualcomm also promises a 15% upgrade in CPU performance and 30% improvement in graphics rendering over the Snapdragon 690.

The Snapdragon 778G Plus and 480 Plus possess higher clock speeds compared to their predecessors

The Snapdragon 680 is somewhat of a surprise given that it only offers 4G LTE support. However, it also uses the 6nm process, so there shouldn’t be significant changes in terms of speed. This chip is designed for markets where 4G is the preferred choice of data networks.

Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 778G Plus is an upgraded version of the 778G launched this year. Qualcomm says it offers a new CPU clock speed of 2.5 GHz up from 2.4 GHz. The Snapdragon 480 Plus also offers a bump in clock speed from 2.0 GHz to 2.2 GHz compared to the SD480.

Qualcomm said the new chipsets would be released by the fourth quarter of 2021. Some of the launch partners could include the likes of HMD Global (Nokia), Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo, Motorola, and Honor. Expectedly a bunch of other manufacturers could also utilize these four chips for their product lineup.

So although some companies are shying away from Qualcomm chips, the chipmaker still has a significant role to play in the mobile industry.

Recently, earbuds manufacturer Nothing announced a partnership with Qualcomm. Since the partnership was made public, speculation is rife that Nothing may also launch its own smartphone with a Qualcomm silicon underneath. It’s worth mentioning that Nothing has only launched one product until now – the ear (1) true wireless stereo earbuds.