Qualcomm had introduced the Snapdragon 670 in the market to cater to the mid-range segment phones which are packing better and better specifications with each passing day. To power even better phones with a slightly pricier price tag, Qualcomm launched the 700 series chipset which lands right in the middle of 800 series and 600 series. However, with those number being in close proximity to each other might confuse you which one is a better processor for your smartphone. We are here to the rescue, so read ahead to know the differences between the Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 710.
Clock Speed Differences, Technical Details
The Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 710 have been carved out with the same 10nm LPP architecture, and they also feature the same Kryo 360 cores from Qualcomm inside them. However, the critical differentiator between the two chipsets is clock speed.
In each of these chipsets, there are two high-performance Kryo 360 cores based on ARM’s Cortex-A75 processor and six other cores which are based on ARM’s Cortex-A55 IP catering more to efficiency rather than pure performance. The main difference comes up in the clock speed of the two Kryo 360 cores, which clock a frequency of 2.0GHz in Snapdragon 670 and 2.2GHz in Snapdragon 710. The rest of the cores on both the chipsets remain the same and clock a frequency of 1.7GHz. Therefore, both the chipsets perform almost equally with a little edge on the Snapdragon 710 owing to the higher clocking core. Both the chipsets also support the LPDDR4X RAM with a maximum bandwidth of 14.9GB/s, so there is no difference in this regard as well.
GPU
Graphics is another area where a difference is spotted between the two chipsets. The Snapdragon 710 accompanies the Adreno 616 GPU, while the Snapdragon 670 comes with an Adreno 615 GPU. Although the actual specifications for both the GPUs are not known, Qualcomm has said that Snapdragon 670 brings 25% better graphical performance over the Snapdragon 660, on the other hand, Snapdragon 710 improves by 35% in the graphics department.
Features
The Snapdragon 670 misses out on one of the modern techs in the world right now; it is due to this that the SD 670 is limited to a maximum download speed of 600 Mbps as compared to the 710’s max download speed of 800 Mbps. This is again due to the absence of 4 x 4 MIMO on its cellular X12 LTE modem. Whereas, the X15 LTE modem comes with the latest tech allowing it to touch higher download speeds. However, the upload speeds on both the chipsets remain the same.
ISP, DSP, Resolution Support
Both the 670 and the 710 support and sport the same DSP (Hexagon 685) and ISP (Spectra 250 ISP for both chipsets), however, due to lower clock speeds, there is a limit to the maximum resolution which the SD 670 can attain. It is due to this reason that the Snapdragon 670 can only support a single 25MP camera or a 16MP dual-camera, while the Snapdragon 710 can support up to a 32MP single camera and 20MP dual-camera.
Another thing to note which might be a significant downside for the phone is the lack of 10-bit display pipelines, which devoid the Snapdragon 670 of the HDR capture feature. The display controller on the SD 670 also only allows for FHD+ whereas the Snapdragon 710 can is capable of rendering QHD+ resolution.
Verdict
The Snapdragon 670 comes with a few noteworthy differences between itself and the Snapdragon 710. However, as Qualcomm has highlighted, the SD 670 powered chipsets will come with a more affordable price tag. Right now the phones sporting Snapdragon 670 are being readied and are expected to land in the market in the coming months. Keeping that in mind, it is safe to say that overall, the Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 710 perform equally well.
