In recent times, the hype for 5G technology has been high thanks to the growing adoption of the next-gen high-speed network and the cray high speeds combined with a plethora of use cases. Smartphone manufacturers also incorporated the same in some of their smartphones launched this year and in 2020, almost all smartphones will come with support for 5G. Thanks to the stiff competition in the SoC market, there has been rapid development in the development of 5G chipsets. On similar lines, Qualcomm has now launched its next-generation flagship Snapdragon 865 chipset along with a new 7 Series Snapdragon 765/765 5G chipset. In this article, let us find more details about the newly launched chipsets from Qualcomm.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is the successor to the 855 and 855 Plus SoC that was introduced last year and earlier this year respectively. The new chipset’s Kryo 585 CPU delivers up to 25% performance improvement, and the new Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU offers up to 25% overall performance boost compared to the previous generations. It is capable of operating at whopping speeds of up to 2 gigapixels per second, is capable of shooting 8K 30fps video, and capturing up to massive 200-megapixel photos. Expect smartphones launching next year carry a massive megapixel sensor on it, taking smartphone photography to the next level.
While most of them were expecting an integrated 5G modem with the 865 SoC, Qualcomm surprisingly didn’t do that and instead is sticking with the separate 5G modem route. Snapdragon 865 still requires a separate 5G modem and Qualcomm is using the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System with the chipset which is the world’s first commercial modem-to-antenna 5G solution and it promises to deliver consistent speeds, with peak speeds of up to 7.5 Gbps. Although the 5G modem is not integrated, Qualcomm won’t allow manufacturers to use the 865 chipset just to make smartphones with a different 4G modem as Snapdragon 865 and the X55 modem is a combined package that needs to be used by manufacturers.
This solution supports all key regions and bands including mmWave and sub-6GHz in both TDD and FDD frequencies, and the best part is that it is compatible with both NSA (Non-standalone) and SA (standalone) modes along with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), global 5G roaming and multi-SIM support. Alongside 5G, the Snapdragon 865 chipset also brings improvements to the performance of WiFi 6 performance and Bluetooth audio experiences, thanks to the Qualcomm FastConnect 6800 mobile connectivity subsystem.
Apart from this, the highlight of the new Snapdragon 865 SoC is the 5th Generation Qualcomm AI Engine that this chipset packs in. This AI Engine delivers 15 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) of AI performance and at the heart is the Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator that has 4 times the TOPS performance of the previous Tensor Accelerator.
Highlights of Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
- 1 x Kryo 585 Prime CPU (A77-based) at up to 2.84GHz, 3 x Kryo 585 Performance CPUs (A77-based) at up to 2.42GHz, 4x Kryo 585 Efficiency CPUs (A55-based) at up to 1.80GHz
- TSMC 7nm (N7) Process Technology
- External Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G modem-RF system
- 5G speeds of up to 7.5Gpbs down and 3 Gbps up, 5G mmWave: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO, 5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO
- Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU , OpenCL 2.0 FP, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, DX12, Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback
- Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9
- Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to WSA8815, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
- Up to 25 MP dual camera, Up to 200MP single camera, Qualcomm Spectra 480 Image Sensor Processor (14-bit dual-ISP), HEIF photo capture, 4K video capture with simultaneous 64MP photo capture, Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture, 4K Video Capture at 120 FPS, No limit Slow-mo video capture at 720p at 960 FPS, HEVC Video Capture, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG support, 4K HDR Video Capture with Portrait Mode (Bokeh)
- On-Device Display Support: 4K at 60 Hz / QHD+ at 144 Hz, Maximum External Display Support: up to 4K @ 60 Hz, 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10 and HDR10+
- Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX) for AI and imaging, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant, Qualcomm All-Ways Aware technology, 15TOPS AI performance
- LPDDR5 2750MHz, 4x16bit memory / 44.0GB/s or LPDDR4X 2133MHz / 33.4GB/s
- 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) Multi-gigabit, Integrated 802.11ac 2×2 (2-stream) MU-MIMO, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 60 GHz, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC
- Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual frequency GNSS, GNSS, GPS, QZSS, SBAS
- USB 3.1, USB-C
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology, Quick Charge AI
We can expect smartphones launching with the Snapdragon 865 SoC in Q1 2020 and already some manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, ZTE, Motorola have confirmed that they will launch smartphones with this new chipset next year.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 and 765G
Alongside Snapdragon 865, Qualcomm also launched its new mid-range Snapdragon 765 and 765G integrated 5G mobile platform with an aim to make 5G available to more users. The new Kryo 475 CPU will feature speeds of up to 2.3 GHz and Adreno 620 GPU delivers up to 20% performance uplift. Snapdragon 765G is built upon Snapdragon 765 Snapdragon 765G and offers up to 5.5 TOPS of AI performance plus 10% faster GPU performance. It lets OEM manufacturers to update GPU drivers to enhance the graphic performance. It too comes with a 5th Generation AI Engine featuring Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator that is 2 times faster than its predecessor.
While the Snapdragon 865 didn’t come with an integrated 5G modem, thankfully the Snapdragon 765 and 765G come with an integrated 5G modem. Qualcomm has included the Snapdragon X52 Modem-RF System on these new chipsets and the company says that it can deliver peak download speeds of up to 3.7Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps. Similar to the Snapdragon 865 chipset, these also support all key regions and bands including mmWave and sub-6GHz, 5G SA and NSA modes, TDD and FDD with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), global 5G roaming and multi-SIM support.
Highlights of Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 and 765G
- 1 x Kryo 475 Prime CPU (A76-based) at up to 2.3GHz / 2.4GHz (765G), 1 x Kryo 475 Performance CPUs (A76-based) at up to 2.2GHz, 6x Kryo 475 Efficiency CPUs (A55-based) at up to 1.80GHz
- Samsung 7nm EUV (7LPP) Process Technology
- Built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon X52 5G modem-RF system
- Download speeds of up to 3.7 Gbps (5G), 1.2 Gbps (LTE) / Upload speeds of Up to 1.6 Gbps (5G), 210 Mbps (LTE), 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, FDD, TDD, mmWave: 400 MHz bandwidth, 2×2 MIMO, Sub-6 GHz: 100 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO
- Qualcomm Adreno 620 GPU , OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP,
Vulkan 1.1, DirectX 12, 20% better performance vs 730 (765), 38% better performance vs 730 (765G) - 4K HDR10 PQ and HLG Video Playback (10 bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut), H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) VP8 and VP9 playback
- Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator for hardware accelerated voice signal processing, Qualcomm Aqstic™ audio codec (up to WCD9385), Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), Playback: -108dB, Native DSD support, PCM up to 384 kHz/32-bit, Customizable “Golden Ears” filter, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier (up to WSA8815)
- Up to 22 MP dual camera, Up to 192MP single camera, Qualcomm Spectra 355Image Sensor Processor (14-bit dual-ISP), Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, 4K HDR video capture with portrait mode, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture, Slow motion video capture up to 720p at 480fps, HEVC Video Capture, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG support
(Bokeh) - On-Device Display Support: QHD+ @ 60 Hz, Maximum External Display Support: up to UHD @ 60 Hz, 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10 and HDR10+
- Qualcomm Hexagon 696 Processor, Hexagon Vector eXtensions, Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, 5.4TOPS AI performance
- LPDDR4x 2133MHz, 4x16bit memory / 17.0GB/s
- 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6-ready), Integrated 802.11ac Wave 2 x 2 MU-MIMO, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
- Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual frequency GNSS, GNSS, GPS, QZSS, SBAS
- USB 3.1, USB-C
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology, Quick Charge AI
It is great to see Qualcomm focussing on mid-range chipsets as well and bringing the possible/compatible features that are present in its elder brother, Snapdragon 865 chipset. This chipset is expected to be available next year and we can expect smartphones to launch with the Snapdragon 765/765G chipset in Q1 2020.
Commenting on the launch, Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc said:
Snapdragon 865 supports the world’s most advanced 5G connectivity and features, raising the bar for what a mobile device should be. It’s the culmination of Qualcomm’s more than 30 years of wireless leadership and innovation.
We expect 5G to be the fastest cellular transition in history. As the world’s leading wireless technology innovator, we are committed to driving 5G throughout our Snapdragon tiers in record time. Our expanded portfolio including Snapdragon 765 and 765G has the potential to make 5G accessible to billions of smartphone users around the world and help enable experiences like high-speed gaming, intelligent multi-camera capture, and all-day battery life, on a global scale.
Manoj Nagendra contributed to this post