Qualcomm has only just gotten its most recent Snapdragon 600-series processors out the door – the Snapdragon 630 and 660 – and the rumor mill is already talking about the Snapdragon 670. According to the rumor mill, Qualcomm could use Samsung’s 10 nanometer architecture to manufacture the Snapdragon 670, which many are expecting to be the successor to the Snapdragon 660 processor.
So far, there’s not a whole lot to go on, for leaks, but Qualcomm is said to use Samsung’s 10nm LPP (Low Power Plus) technology, which is the next step above the LPE (Low Power Early) technology that it used for the Snapdragon 835 that debuted earlier this year. The rumor mill is also pointing towards the Snapdragon 670 sporting an octa-core Kryo CPU which would feature two high powered cores – likely the Kryo 360 – and then 6 low-power cores. Which should keep battery life pretty good. This would be a third-generation core, while the Snapdragon 835 and 660 SoC’s use second generation cores. So it is also possible that we could see this new Kryo 360 in the Snapdragon 845 next year.
The Snapdragon 670 is also slated to use ARM’s DynamIQ tech, which is more or less the next step in the big.LITTLE architecture and should make the processor a bit more power efficient, while also keeping the device cooler. Of course, the GPU will get a nice upgrade too. All things said, this could turn out to be a huge upgrade to the Snapdragon 600-series, which has transitioned from a mid-range processor to the high-end of the mid-range tier in recent years. The Snapdragon 625 was found in a number of “flagship” smartphones this year, and that will likely be the case with the Snapdragon 630 and 660 in the coming months – as those SoC’s are finally in manufacturers hands and being mass produced. Now it’s also important to note that it’ll likely be another 8 to 10 months before we see the Snapdragon 670. The Snapdragon 630 and 660 were only announced this year, and if these rumors are true, the Snapdragon 845 (or whatever they call it) should be announced first – especially if Qualcomm is moving to a new Kryo core as well as a new architecture. That’s something Qualcomm will want in its flagship processor first.