Today, Qualcomm makes a rather unexpected announcement of the SoC in the form of the new Snapdragon 870. The chip is a rather strange version in Qualcomm’s chipset setup in that it is actually a part derived from the Snapdragon 865 series from last year, with the new model it is a new silicone bowl that increases the clock frequencies for a small performance improvement, although it gets a model name that indicates major changes (of which there are none).
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SKUs | ||||
| SoC | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 865+ |
Snapdragon 870 |
|
| SVE | 1x Cortex A77 @ 2.84GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @? MHz |
1x Cortex A77 @ 3.09 GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @? MHz |
1x Cortex A77 @ 3.2 GHz 1x512KB pL2 3x Cortex A77 4x Cortex A55 4MB sL3 @? MHz |
|
| GPU | Adreno 650 @ 587 MHz | Adreno 650 @ 670MHz | ||
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 698
15 TOPS AI |
|||
| Memory Admin |
4x 16-bit CH
@ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB / s 3MB cache level at system level |
|||
| ISP / Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP
1x 200MP 64MP ZSL or 2x 25MP ZSL 4K video and 64MP burst recording |
|||
| Encode / Decode |
8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265
Dolby Vision, HDR10 +, HDR10, HLG 720p960 infinite recording |
|||
| Integrated modem | no (Only connected to external X55) (LTE Category 24/22) (5G NR Sub-6 + mmGolf) |
|||
| Mfc. Process | TSMC 7 nm (N7P) |
|||
The new Snapdragon 870 is still based on the ‘SM8250’ silicone chip design we saw last year in the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865+. model number.
The specification changes compared to the Snapdragon 865+ released last summer are quite limited and relate only to the main CPU core: the fastest Cortex-A77 core here rises from 3.09 GHz to 3.2 GHz.
Qualcomm’s reason for calling it Snapdragon 870 is simply that they did not want to go the route of using something like ‘Snapdragon 865 Plus Plus’, although I would argue that it is called ‘Snapdragon 865 Pro’ or ‘Snapdragon 866’ . was perhaps a little more representative of what the chip is.
The release of this new SKU is rather strange, as it is the first time ever that Qualcomm has announced a refresh of a last generation part after the announcement and commercial release of their latest flagship SoC, that is the newer Snapdragon 888.
In today’s press release, Qualcomm shares that key customers such as Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi will use the Snapdragon 870 in a variety of flagship devices this year. This is indeed quite strange as well, because in the past we have rarely seen sellers release new phones based on last year’s SoC design.
One theory I had is that because we have not yet seen a successor to the Snapdragon 765 (which was announced in 2019 in combination with the 865), and that it might instead be a dedicated SoC in the ‘ premium ‘SoC series, the company can recycle the flagship SoCs of the previous year, a tactic that I think could be completely valid and viable. However, the company rejected the idea, revealing that the new 870 should not replace the 765, and that a true successor to the 765 would go further.
So it looks like this year we will see new contemporary smartphone designs with the Snapdragon 888 as well as the Snapdragon 870 in the flagship segment, which will be very interesting to see how it plays out in terms of performance, function and especially price differentiation.