A chart said to be detailing the Specs of Qualcomm’s mid-range chips intended to be released in 2018 leaked online earlier this week, having originally appeared on Chinese social media service Weibo. The image that can be seen below suggests Qualcomm will stick with its strategy of releasing three value-oriented silicon modules on an annual basis, much like it did this year with the Snapdragon 660, Snapdragon 630, and the Snapdragon 450. For 2018, the company is planning to release two offerings meant to compete in the upper mid-range segment of the market and will market them as the Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 640, the source indicates, adding that the lower end of the spectrum will be ennobled with the addition of the Snapdragon 460.
Both of the upcoming Snapdragon 600-series chips will supposedly be manufactured using Samsung’s first-generation 10nm LPP process, the same one that backed the Exynos 8895 and Snapdragon 835 which powered various Android flagships released over the course of this year. The modules will be equipped with a Dual 14-bit Spectra 260 image signal processor capable of supporting a 13-megapixel dual-camera setup or a single 26-megapixel sensor. Both will have 1MB of L3 cache and eight CPU cores, though their other leaked characteristics differ to varying degrees. The Snapdragon 670 is alleged to feature a high-performance quad-core cluster entailing Kryo 360 Gold cores clocked at 2.0GHz and an energy-efficient Kryo 385 Silver configuration operating at up to 1.6GHz. The Adreno 620 will be part of the package, together with Qualcomm’s X16 LTE modem, the same one found inside the Snapdragon 835 that’s theoretically capable of achieving gigabit download speeds and peak upload speeds of 150Mbps.
The Snapdragon 640’s high-performance configuration will be a dual-core affair with two Kryo 360 Gold cores working at a maximum clock speed of 2.15GHz, whereas its hexa-core Kryo 360 Silver cluster will be capped at 1.55GHz, according to the leak. The chip is said to sport the Adreno 610 GPU and the Snapdragon X12 LTE modem with peak download speeds of 600Mbps and maximum upload speeds of 150Mbps. The same modem is understood to be found inside the Snapdragon 460, albeit the weakest chip of the lot will be made using the 14nm LPP process and its 14-bit Spectra 240 ISP will only support single 21-megapixel sensors, the source suggests. The leak puts the Adreno 605 inside the Snapdragon 460 which is also said to feature four Kryo 360 Silver cores running at up to 1.80GHz and an identical cluster clocked at 1.4GHz. Should Qualcomm follow its previously established product release practices, all three chips are likely to be announced come spring. By that time, the company’s Snapdragon 845 flagship offering will have already been commercialized, most likely by the Samsung Galaxy S9 lineup.