Qualcomm is repackaging a chip from final yr into the “Snapdragon 870.” Final yr’s flagship SoC was the Snapdragon 865, after which Qualcomm launched the marginally up-clocked Snapdragon 865+. The Snapdragon 870 appears to be a 865++. It is one other clock bump.
Qualcomm has a totally impenetrable product lineup, so it is arduous to know if any single non-flagship SoC announcement from the corporate is important. It appears like this chip can be picked up by among the extra fascinating Android OEMs, although. The press launch says it should “energy a number of flagship units from key prospects together with Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, and Xiaomi.” The actual flagship SoC is the Snapdragon 888, so Qualcomm’s use of “flagship” right here undoubtedly belongs in scare quotes.
Just like the 865, this can be a 7nm, eight-core chip. The Prime Cortex A77 core is now clocked at 3.2GHz, and maintain on to your benchmark apps, as a result of that is 3 % sooner than the three.1Ghz Snapdragon 865+! Qualcomm does not say something, so we’ll assume all the opposite cores are the identical because the Snapdragon 865. Meaning three extra A77 cores at 2.4Ghz and 4 A55 cores at 1.8Ghz. Like on the 865+ mannequin, it appears like there’s nonetheless the option for Qualcomm’s newest connectivity chip, providing you with the potential of an 870 with Wi-Fi 6E.
The Snapdragon 870 is not simply comparable in spec to the 865—Qualcomm describes it as “constructing upon the success of Snapdragon 865 and 865 Plus” indicating it is one other plain clock bump with no design adjustments. The 865+ and 870 datasheets additionally look equivalent. If these are the very same chip, that is an odd resolution because the Snapdragon 865 SoC design was a stopgap design. It was created to rush 5G out to shoppers as shortly as attainable, and it got here with the 4G/5G modem on a separate chip. Because the 865 was an enormous, costly two-chip resolution, you’d suppose Qualcomm would need to let it die as shortly as attainable. If we assume the previous-generation chips are lifeless, the 870 is now the one chip in Qualcomm’s trendy lineup to function a 4G and 5G modem on a separate chip. Each Qualcomm smartphone SoC costlier than this has an onboard 4G/5G modem, and each SoC cheaper than this has an onboard modem. Heck, onboard 5G now goes all the way in which right down to the Snapdragon 4 series.
The upcoming OnePlus 9 Lite, a cellphone that will reportedly be behind the OnePlus 9 and 9 Professional, was supposed to come back with the Snapdragon 865, however now there’s some speculation that it’s going to include this “Snapdragon 870” as an alternative. Within the land of promoting logic, I suppose Qualcomm’s new mannequin quantity will cease informal observers from calling this “final yr’s chip.” Sadly for Qualcomm, advertising and marketing has no energy right here.
As for timing, Qualcomm says “Industrial units based mostly on Snapdragon 870 are anticipated to be introduced within the first quarter of 2021.”
