The new processor will be used on mid-to-high-end smartphones of 2021-22.
After confirming its leadership in high-end and ultra-high-end processors, respectively with the Snapdragon 870 and the Snapdragon 888, now Qualcomm presents its new SoC dedicated to the step immediately below: the mid-to-high-end. This is the new Snapdragon 780G 5G.
It will be positioned as heir and successor to the current Snapdragon 768G, which is nothing if not a Snapdragon 765G with higher clock frequency, but will have an architecture very similar to that of his older brother Snapdragon 888. This means that it will be more powerful, but will consume less power than the 768G/765G. It will also have far superior photographic capabilities, allowing future 5G mid- to high-end smartphones (those with a launch price in Europe between 500 and 700 euros, to be clear) to take much better photos and videos. But that's not all: it will also be a great alternative to its big brother for those looking for a smartphone for gaming.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G, technical characteristics
The most important technical feature of the new Snapdragon 780G is the 5 nm manufacturing process, against the 7 nm of the previous mid-range models. Already this, all other things being equal, ensures lower power consumption and the ability to reach higher frequencies without heating up too much.
In comparison to the 768G, then, the internal architecture of the CPU cores changes, with a performance increase of up to 40%. The Snapdragon 780G has a "1+3+4" architecture: one Cortex-A78 core at 2.4 GHz, three Cortex A78 cores at 2.2 GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 1.9 GHz. Even greater is the increase in graphics performance, thanks to the Adreno 642 GPU that is 50% faster than the Adreno 620 of the Snapdragon 768G.
The new SoC allows you to drive screens with FHS+ resolution and refresh rate up to 144 Hz, which is very welcome for gamers, while on the photographic side the new ISP Spectra 570 allows you to capture photos from three sensors simultaneously, for a total manageable resolution of 192 MP.
Finally, regarding the processing of artificial intelligence algorithms, the new Snapdragon 780G integrates the sixth generation Qualcomm AI Engine with DSP Hexagon 770 with power equal to 12 TOPs (Trillion Operations Per Second). Just to understand what numbers we're talking about, just compare this power with the much-vaunted Neural Engine of the new Apple M1 SoCs for desktop and laptop computers, which stops at the value of 11 TOPs.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G, on which smartphones it arrives
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G is destined to equip a good slice of the mid-high-end smartphones in 2021 and mid-low-end in 2022. According to the latest rumors available, the first smartphone that will integrate it could be the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G.