Qualcomm’s 4 new chipsets bring high-end features to entry-level and mid-range products
Qualcomm today announced that they have developed four new chipsets. Two will head to the Snapdragon 400 family, while the other 2 will find their places with the Snapdragon 600 series.
For starters the Snapdragon 425 and Snapdragon 415 are both octa-core configurations, marking the first time that a chipset from the entry-level line would get such a kit. Both feature 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 architecture, but the Snapdragon 425 gets a slightly higher clock speed at 1.7GHz as opposed to the Snapdragon 415’s 1.4GHz.
Something else the Snapdragon 425 has over the 415 is Qualcomm’s new integrated X8 LTE modem. It supports Cat 7 speeds of up to 300 megabits down and 100 megabits up, and also features 2x20MHz carrier aggregation on both uplink and downlink.
What does this mean? It means the chip can automatically determine which network is the best at any given time and seamlessly move you to the best one to ensure you get the best performance you can. It’s even possible to combine two signals at once to ensure maximum bandwidth. The Snapdragon 415’s X5 LTE modem doesn’t have that functionality, but you will get at least Cat 4 LTE speeds of up to 150 megabits down.
Moving on, the Snapdragon 618 and 620 are a bit beefier and should have ample performance for a mid-range device in 2015. Both feature four cores of ARM’s Cortex-A72 clocked at 1.8GHz, and another four cores of Cortex-A53 at 1.2GHz. Both feature the aforementioned X8 LTE chip with carrier aggregation and a “next-generation Adreno GPU” that Qualcomm oddly doesn’t wish to name at this time.
Both those chipsets move the Snapdragon 600 series closer to the top-line 800 series thanks to support for dual ISP camera, 4K video capture and playback, HEVC hardware encoding, and Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology as standard.
So you’re probably wondering when to expect these bad boys. The Snapdragon 415 will be out first with devices expected to appear in the first half of 2015. The other three are all destined for the second half of the year, so it’s likely we’ll see the usual summer and holiday push for mid-range dominance ramp up with these in tow.
It’s no Snapdragon 800-worthy lineup, but all these chipsets should make for a horde of affordable devices that don’t have to be subject to the usual downsides associated with lower price points.