Qualcomm Rolls Out Three New Snapdragon Mobile Platforms
Qualcomm announced three Snapdragon Mobile Platforms this week at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai the Snapdragon 632, 439 and 429. The new platforms are in Qualcomm’s 400 and 600 series for mid-range devices. The new SoCs aren’t flagship parts for each series, but rather mid-tier options within each series. They basically bring better performance and more features than the older options in each tier that they will be replacing. For example, the the Snapdragon 632, Snapdragon 439, and Snapdragon 429 SoCs all support dual cameras.
The Snapdragon 632 is pin and software compatible with the Snapdragon 625 and 626 SoCs from 2016 that it replaces. The Snapdragon 632 is supposed to be up to 40 percent faster when it comes to CPU performance and 10% faster on GPU performance than the Snapdragon 626. This is because Qualcomm moved from the Cortex-A53 processor up to a 1.8GHz quad-core Kryo 250 processor and an Adreno 506 GPU. The Snapdragon 632 platform supports 1080p resolution bezelless displays, cameras up to 24 megapixels or a dual 13-megapixel arrangement, 4K video capture, and an LTE modem with carrier aggregation for quick internet access. When it comes to cellular network speeds, the Snapdragon X9 LTE modem in the Snapdragon 632 SoC offers peak download speeds of 300Mbps. From the sounds of it, the Snapdragon 632 will be a solid solution for the 600 tier where consumers want a great mobile experience at an affordable price.
The lower-end Snapdragon 400 tier isn’t that exciting for our audience, but Qualcomm is selling tons of SoCs for this market. Qualcomm says that over 2,300 commercial devices are based on Snapdragon 400-tier processors. That number is impressive considering that just over 1,350 devices used the Snapdragon 600-tier processors! The Snapdragon 429 and 439 are supposed to be the successors to the Snapdragon 425 and 430 chips. Qualcomm is sticking with Cortex A53 cores from ARM for this series, but they are bumping up the clock speeds to get more performance. The Snapdragon 439 has eight cores, four of which max out at 1.95GHz, while the 429 has four 1.95GHz cores. The previous generation only ran at 1.4GHz, so Qualcomm was able to get an extra 550MHz out of the cores for around a 25 percent gain in CPU performance. The shocking news is that SoC tweaks is that they are more battery efficient than before!
When it comes to new feature support, the Snapdragon 429 supports either a single 16-megapixel camera or dual 8-megapixel cameras and a screen resolution of 720p. The Snapdragon 439 supports a resolution of around 1080p Full HD and can go up to a 21-megapixel camera, or the dual 8-megapixel dual cameras as well. The Snapdragon 429 is powered by the Adreno 504 GPU and the Snapdragon 439 has the Adreno 505 GPU, both of which support the latest OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan gaming APIs. Both Snapdragon 439 and Snapdragon 429 feature the Snapdragon X6 LTE modem, offering peak download speeds of 150Mbps.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 632, Snapdragon 439, and Snapdragon 429 are expected to launch in the second half of 2018. These new SoCs will be appealing to phone manufacturers as they have better performance and more features than outgoing models. Expect to see phones running Qualcomm’s new 400 and 600 series SoCs soon in the $100 to $400 price range!