Qualcomm has announced a new 5G chipset for high-end flagship devices and it is the Snapdragon 870. This system-on-a-chip (SoC) has launched a month after Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 888, its flagship chipset at the moment. The Snapdragon 870 is an enhanced Snapdragon 865+ which was announced last year. It is the first chipset in the series which has cores that can clock a speed of up to 3.2 GHz. Of course, it is a 5G chipset which also features the Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming technology for delivering superior gaming performance — more on the story ahead.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Specifications and Features
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 is built on a 7nm process featuring the Kyro 385 CPU with a tri-cluster built. There are four cores of Cortex-A55 clocked at 1.8 GHz, three cores of Cortex-A77 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and a prime core of Cortex-A77 clocked at 3.2 GHz. The CPU is paired with the Adreno 650 GPU and comes with Snapdragon Elite Gaming technology. There is also support for updating GPU drivers.
For enabling on-device Artificial Intelligence, there is a fifth-generation Qualcomm AI Engine with Hexagon 698 processor and Hexagon Tensor Accelerator which can deliver a performance of 15 tera operations per second (TOPS).
The Snapdragon 870 includes Qualcomm Spectra 480 image signal processor (ISP) which can support camera sensors of up to 200MP. The ISP will be able to support 8K recording at 30fps frame rate.
Further, the chipset comes with support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth v5.2. There is also Qualcomm aptX Adaptive audio support on the chipset. The Snapdragon 870 has an external Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF for enabling 5G connectivity. In comparison, the Snapdragon 888 comes with an integrated Snapdragon X60 5G modem which is just more efficient.
The SoC will support QHD+ display at 144Hz refresh rate or 4K display at 60Hz refresh rate. There is support for up to LPDDR5 memory with a maximum frequency of up to 2750 MHz. The total RAM or memory capacity of this chipset can go up to 16GB.
The Snapdragon 870 carries Quick Charge 4+ support whereas the Snapdragon 888 comes with Quick Charge 5 technology.
Which Devices Will Feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC?
Multiple smartphone vendors such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Motorola have confirmed Snapdragon 870 SoC's presence on their upcoming devices. Motorola has further announced via a Weibo post that this chipset will feature on the ‘Motorola Edge S’ slated to launch on January 26, 2021.
What do you think of this SoC, would you buy a smartphone with Snapdragon 870 on it? Leave your thoughts on the comments section below!
