Qualcomm unveiled three new chipsets for the Indian market today. The chipmaker is already going great guns when it comes to 5G, but in India, we may not see telcos launching 5G network this year. This forced Qualcomm to launch three new 4G chipsets for India. The three chipsets in question are Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, Snapdragon 662 and the Snapdragon 460. At the launch event in New Delhi, Qualcomm confirmed the Snapdragon 720G powered devices will come out in Q1 2020 itself, but the devices with the other chipsets will come later this year which is underwhelming. Qualcomm already has the Snapdragon 730G and Snapdragon 730 chipsets in the mid-range segment and we now have devices with these SoCs under Rs 20,000 as well. So it will be interesting to see how the Snapdragon 720G fits into the company's chipset portfolio as the price would be a major differentiator.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Features Detailed
With Snapdragon 720G SoC, Qualcomm is aiming to redefine the gaming and entertainment segments in mid-range phones. The new chipset from Qualcomm comes with select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features from premium-tier mobile platforms to offer HDR gameplay, dynamic colour range and contrast along with realistic in-game environments. The chipset also offers synchronised sound with Qualcomm aptX Adaptive. There's the Qualcomm Spectra 350L ISP which allows users to have super smooth video streaming and HDR viewing. The chipset also has the capability to capture 4K videos or shoot 192MP photos.
As for the connectivity, we get the integrated Snapdragon X15 LTE model which supports 3CA, 4x4 MIMO on two carriers and 256-QAM modulation for fast download speeds up to 800Mbps. There's also support for FastConnect 6200 subsystem (Wi-Fi 6), 8x8 MIMO for 2x improvement over competitive Wi-Fi 6 devices. It also has support for Bluetooth 5.1.
The Snapdragon 720G chipset built on 8nm process and it features two powerful Cortex A76 cores clocked at 2.3GHz and six power-efficient Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The Adreno 618 GPU handles all the graphic-intensive tasks. Lastly, smartphone brands can offer up to 120Hz refresh rate screens with this chipset and it supports Quick Charge 4+ fast charging as well.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 Features Detailed
Moving onto the Snapdragon 662 Mobile Platform, it brings several new camera and AI features to the 6-series for the first time. For the starters, the Snapdragon 662 has the brand new Qualcomm Spectra 340T which allows device manufacturers to offer triple cameras and smooth switching between them. The chipset also offers a robust ISP for photo capturing in the HEIF file format. Qualcomm also added 3rd generation Qualcomm AI Engine with Hexagon Vector Extension which works for enhanced AI-based user experiences.
The Snapdragon 662 also features new Snapdragon X11 LTE modem with peak download speeds of up to 390 Mbps thanks to 2CA, 2x2 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation, along with 150 Mbps peak uploads.
Lastly, we have the Snapdragon 460 Mobile Platform, which has similar architecture as the Snapdragon 662. For the first time in a while, Qualcomm has refreshed the Snapdragon 4-series. According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 460 boasts a major leap in performance in 4-series. Qualcomm Snapdragon 462 features Cortex A73 performance cores for the first time and we also get the updated Adreno 610 GPU, similar to the Snapdragon 662. Both the Snapdragon
662 and Snapdragon 460 are built on 11nm process.
The Snapdragon 460 also has the Qualcomm Spectra 340 ISP which enables the support for triple cameras. There's the Snapdragon X11 LTE model underneath with download speeds up to 390 Mbps and uploads up to 150 Mbps.
As mentioned above, smartphones based on Snapdragon 720G are expected to be commercially available in Q1 2020, while the devices based on Snapdragon 662 and 460 are expected to be commercially available by the end of 2020.
