Qualcomm announces a new SoC, the Snapdragon 870

Qualcomm is a key player in the mobile landscape, with its chips present in a large number of smartphones. To do this, the giant multiplies its products year after year.

Qualcomm is a staple in the mobile industry. Its SoCs are present in the majority of our smartphones, with good reason. And to keep its place, the American giant must release new products very regularly, and this in different range segments. Today, here is the Snapdragon 870, slightly more affordable than the very top of the range.

Qualcomm unveils a new SoC

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC will most certainly be the chip of choice for flagship smartphones this year 2021. That being said, Qualcomm is introducing a new chip today, which should be slightly less expensive to manufacture and therefore end up in less efficient and cheaper devices than those equipped with the Snapdragon 888.

This new chip is called Snapdragon 870. Based on the nomenclature, it would appear to be an update to the Snapdragon 865+ from the previous year. Which was already an upgraded version of the Snapdragon 865. That being said, other than the name, there doesn’t seem to be much difference from the 865+.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870

This Snapdragon 870 uses the same Adreno 650 GPU and the same 5G X55 modem. The main change comes from the clock speed of the Kryo 585 CPU which, instead of the 3.1 GHz of the 865+, goes to 3.2 GHz. It is difficult to know if users will notice a real difference with these 100 MHz more.

In any case, this looks like a rather strange launch but we can easily understand why. The Snapdragon 888 is manufactured in 5nm, a process which is normally more expensive than that used for other chips. As for the 870, it still seems to be manufactured in 7 nm, its production cost should therefore be more contained, while offering better performance than what the flagships of 2020 offer.

According to Qualcomm, smartphones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO, Motorola and iQOO should take advantage very soon.