Earlier today, Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 768 Mobile platform which will follow the 765G processor found in most sub $800 Android smartphones.
While the star of the day may have been the announcement of the Snapdragon 865 upgrade with its 20 to 25% performance and graphics boosts as well as extended battery life, it’s what the 768 that’s bringing to mid-range phones that is arguably a more interesting story.
According to Qualcomm’s press note, the new 768G will be a 5G centric processor bringing gaming-specific tweaks, multi-camera intelligent processing, and seemingly standard 120Hz screen refresh rates to a new batch of mid-level smartphones.
More specifically,
- Immersive Gaming: Snapdragon 768G offers select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features to provide special game extensions and optimizations, smoother gameplay, and more enhanced detail and colors with true 10-bit HDR to deliver high-quality mobile gaming experiences. This is the first 7-series platform to support Adreno Updateable GPU Drivers, giving players control of their GPU driver updates and settings to provide peak display refresh rates that unlock premium visual fidelity on their favorite games. Combined with a bolstered Adreno 620 GPU for up to 15% faster graphics rendering than Snapdragon 765G and support for 120Hz display, users can enjoy life-like gaming experiences and leading performance per unit power.
- Truly Global 5G: Dedicated to bringing superior 5G multimode connectivity far and wide globally like its predecessor, the Snapdragon 768G with the Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF System supports all key regions and frequency bands including 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, 5G SA and NSA modes, TDD and FDD with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), global 5G roaming and support for multi-SIM. The Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF System is designed to deliver multi-gigabit peak download speeds of up to 3.7 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps, ensuring superior coverage for users around the world and support for all-day battery life*.
- 5th Generation AI Engine: The latest 5th generation Qualcomm AI Engine, combined with the X52 5G Modem-RF System, enhances nearly every mobile experience including camera, audio, voice, and gaming. Snapdragon 768G’s AI Engine fuels mobile experiences that are sophisticated and seamless, supporting unique and innovative use cases like real-time translation and ultra-smooth AI-based lens filters for social media apps. Also, the low-power Qualcomm® Sensing Hub enables devices to be contextually aware of voice commands when using AI voice assistants and can automatically identify music that is playing around users – without excessive battery drain.
Leveraging a partner in its announcement today, Qualcomm highlighted the $529.99 Xiaomi Redmi K30 Racing Edition phone to showcase what inexpensive Android phones buyers can expect this year.
Perhaps, evident by Samsung and Apple cramming more high-end features into mid-range phones, the $1,000 smartphone buying market might be becoming saturated and the sub $800 mobile device might be where OEMs are looking to expand their base.
