These days, everyone’s talking about nothing but 5G, but Qualcomm knows that many areas of the world will be stuck with 4G for quite some time. So today, Qualcomm is announcing three new Snapdragon chipsets that will support 4G LTE and not 5G.
It makes perfect sense for Qualcomm to make this announcement in New Delhi, India too. Seeing as India is a third-world country on some levels, and likely won’t be seeing nationwide 5G for quite a few years from now.
Qualcomm is announcing the Snapdragon 720G, 662 and the 460. Adding new chipsets to its popular Snapdragon 400-series, 600-series and 700-series. So there’s something for everyone.
The Snapdragon 720G is made for gaming
The Snapdragon 720G is going to be the go-to gaming chipset for 4G LTE smartphones. At least that’s what Qualcomm is hoping.
It comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming features. Which offer striking capture capabilities and intelligent performance. The Snapdragon 720G is going to be able to deliver smooth HDR game play, dynamic color range and contrast, realistic and immersive in-game environments and high-quality, synchronized sound thanks to aptX Adaptive.
Qualcomm has equipped the Snapdragon 720G with its Spectra 350T ISP. This is going to allow you to take up to 192-megapixel photos, and capture 4K video.
The Snapdragon X15 LTE modem is on-board, which supports 3-carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO on two carriers and 256-QAM modulation for fast download speeds of up to 800Mbps (who needs 5G?). Snapdragon 720G also supports WiFi 6. Making it fairly future-proof, at least for now.
All of this is built on a 8nm process, which is going to make the Snapdragon 720G smaller, and more energy efficient.
Snapdragon 662 will bring Triple-Cameras To Even Cheaper Phones
For the first time in the Snapdragon 600-series, it’s going to support triple cameras, thanks to the Spectra 340T being built-in. Along with this being a more robust ISP, you’re also going to be able to capture photos in the HEIF file format. Giving you some stunning looking photos while using up less storage.
As far as connectivity goes, the Snapdragon 662 does have the Snapdragon X11 LTE modem included. This will offer peak downloads speeds of up to 390Mbps. That’s thanks to 2-carrier aggregation, 2×2 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation. Peak uploads will be around 150Mbps.
Qualcomm made the Snapdragon 460 twice as fast as its predecessor
When you think of the Snapdragon 400-series, you likely think of super cheap smartphones. Like under $200, cheap. And that’s not a big surprise. They usually are used in super cheap smartphones. So to hear that the Snapdragon 460 is now twice as powerful as its predecessor, it’s a good thing. Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 460 offers a “gigantic leap in performance across the board in the 4-series, as well as significant boosts in connectivity, AI and camera improvements.”
Qualcomm has equipped the Snapdragon 460 with the third-generation AI Engine and Sensing Hub for new AI experiences for photography and voice assistance.
The Spectra 340 ISP is included, which will also support triple cameras, much like the Snapdragon 662.
Finally, the Snapdragon 460 does also have the Snapdragon X11 LTE modem, that offers peak download speeds of 390Mbps and peak upload speeds of 150Mbps.
We will see smartphones with the Snapdragon 720G available first, starting in Q1 2020. While devices with the Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 will start arriving before the end of 2020.