The Snapdragon 700 line of processors will power more affordable devices this year, especially in China.
The days to shell out big bucks to get high-end smartphone features with artificial intelligence will soon be behind us.
This Tuesday, Qualcomm launched a new line of processor family, which aims at bringing premium features to more affordable smartphones, particularly in places like China. The Snapdragon 700 series of chips will massively help to enhance the features on the smartphones by enabling on-device artificial intelligence support, improvements along with a better device performance and power. Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm senior vice president and general manager of mobile, said in a statement, “The Snapdragon 700 Series is optimized to support the experiences consumers have come to expect from the most advanced mobile devices at a lower price point.”
Almost all smartphones work on a chip by Qualcomm, making it the biggest wireless chipmaker. It counts most of the world’s largest phone makers, including both Apple and Samsung, as its customers, and the new Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus feature its ultra high-end Snapdragon 845 chip. With Samsung building its own processors, the competition from Intel and other Chinese chip makers and Qualcomm fighting a fierce legal battle against Apple. At the same time, rival Broadcom is attempting to buy Qualcomm.
Releasing a lower-priced chip that appeals to handset makers in places like China should help Qualcomm maintain its position against its rivals there. It also could help expand the company’s customer base as Intel pecks away at its wireless business with customers like Apple.
The Snapdragon 700 Series With No Manufacturing Process Listed Offers To Have More Features And Be Much Faster Than the Snapdragon 660
Qualcomm isis further subdividing the Snapdragon into a sub-premium brand that is below the 800 series but above the 600 series. In a short press release, Qualcomm stated that the goal of the new Snapdragon 700 series is to offer the kind of premium features found in the 800 series but at a cheaper price.
Although no extensive details have by provided by the company on the latest mobile platform, it states that when compared against the Snapdragon 660, it will be able to achieve twice the AI performance and 30 percent better power efficiency than other members. We should also expect newer CPU and GPU architectures from Qualcomm. The new phones will be able to offer Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ technology, which delivers up to a 50 percent charge in 15 minutes. The connectivity in the phones will also get a boost, with the Snapdragon 700 chips featuring “ultra-fast LTE” and Bluetooth 5 multicast audio and ultra-low power wireless earbud support.
Unfortunately, Qualcomm has not stated as to when it will be officially releasing these or when its partners will start to incorporate these into their own devices. We should expect them during the second half of 2018 though. Their performance numbers should be also introduced in the future, and then we’ll get to know where this category of chipsets are placed. Customers will have samples of the chips in the first half of 2018. Qualcomm declined to specify timing for when Snapdragon 700-powered devices could hit the market beyond saying it will be sometime this year.
