Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 870 SM8250-AC mobile platform just a month after releasing its flagship Snapdragon 888 SoC. The Snapdragon 870 is a modified version of last year’s SD865+, bringing in the clock speed up to 3.2GHz, first in the series while based on a 7nm process. The Snapdragon 870 comes with Qualcomm’s Elite Gaming Technology for mobile gamers on top of a 5th generation AI engine for on-device artificial intelligence.
As for the cores, we are seeing the good old Kyro 585 running on Cortex-A77 from ARM atop Qualcomm’s own modifications. Whereas the SD88 uses Cortex-X1 and A78 with X1 clocked at 2.84GHz for enhanced performance.
The Snapdragon 870 also brings in the Adreno 650 GPU, though the clock speed is yet to get announced. However, we count on the 587MHz seen in SD865 or 670MHz seen in SD865+. The Hexagon 698 and the Tensor Accelerator max out on 15 TOPS as the predecessors.
Qualcomm hasn’t bother changing the Spectra 480 ISP, hence goes up to 200MP with 8K video at 30fps and 4K video at 120fps whilst record high dynamic range videos leveraging HDR10+ as well as Dolby Vision standards. Similarly, the display driver can go up to 1440p at 144Hz and 4K at 60Hz with HDR10+ color gamut support.
The Snapdragon 870 resorts to FastConnect 6800 down from FastConnect 69000 in SD865+ with Wi-Fi 6E support, hence settles with Wi-Fi 6 (up to 1.77 Gbps) and Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Voice and Adaptive.
It’s also coupled with Snapdragon X55 externally that supports sub-6 and mmWave maxing out to 7.5 Gbps downlink speed in spite of an onboard 5G modem.
Smartphone makers like Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, and iQOO have already announced to use the chipset, however, dates are yet to be revealed. With 5G to be a major integration, the likes of Xiaomi and iQOO will be leveraging the chipset for their cameras and gaming respectively.
