Qualcomm has just made a somewhat unexpected move that it has not been used to in past generations. And it is that, little more than a month since Snapdragon 888, its most powerful processor chipset for the high-end of 2021, has now launched a version of it - if you could say so - somewhat lower, which comes as Snapdragon 870 and it will be used by high-ranking mobiles that will have a somewhat reduced price.
In question, All mobile phones that arrive equipped with the Snapdragon 870 will be cheaper than those with the Snapdragon 888, while remaining high-end, so they will still offer top-class performance.
Features and technical specifications of the Snapdragon 870
To begin with, we are facing a piece that does not have the 5 nm node size that we find in the Snapdragon 888. To lighten its price, the semiconductor manufacturer has given it a 7nm FinFet construction process, which is still very good in terms of energy efficiency, but not as good as the 5 nm one, which represents an improvement in this section.
The other is that 5G connectivity is maintained in the Snapdragon 870, how could it be otherwise; here we have compatibility with global SA and NSA networks thanks to the X55 modem that it carries, which is compatible with MIMO 4X4 and offers maximum download and upload speeds of up to 7.5GB / s and 3GB / s. This feature is in addition to WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2, Bluetooth aptX, and support for NFC. For geopositioning, we have GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC and SBAS.
Now, moving on to one of the most important points of the new mobile platform, it is worth noting that it consists of eight cores. The main one is a Cortex-A77 and works at a maximum clock frequency of 3.2 GHz. Three more are the Cortex-A77 and go at 2.4 GHz, while the last four, which are focused on simpler tasks, are the Cortex-A55 and operate at about 1.8 GHz.
The graphics processor - also known only as GPU - is the Adreno 650, the same that we got in the Snapdragon 865 from last year. This guarantees a fairly fluid gaming performance, as well as in the subject of image processing and everything that has to do with multimedia, as features such as OpenGL 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1 and DirectX 12 are included.
Following the gaming theme, thanks to the fact that the Snapdragon 870 has Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming, it is compatible with the reproduction of true HDR games, with 10-bit color depth and 2020 color gamut. In addition, all the GPU controllers They are upgradeable, so they will always be open to optimizations and performance improvements, without the need to update the mobile OS as such.
For memory cards, the processor chipset supports LPDDR4X and LPDDR5 RAM cards, the most advanced for mobiles. It also supports a maximum clock speed of 2750 MHz and a maximum capacity of 16 GB of RAM. At the same time, it supports UFS 3.1 type ROM memory.
With regard to security and privacy and unlock options, there is support for fingerprint reading, iris recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition. In this sense, the mobile platform has Qualcomm Mobile Secutiry.
In terms of displays, the Snapdragon 870 is compatible with panels with 4K resolution at 60 Hz refresh rate and QuadHD + (2K) at 144 Hz, as well as HDR10 and HDR10 +, and 10-bit color depth. For fast charging technology, there is support for Quick Charge 4+ and not Quick Charge 5, which is the most recent version of this and is available on the Snapdragon 888.
For photography, the processor chipset can with a single sensor up to 200 MP, slow motion of 720p at 980 fps and video recording in 8K.
The first mobile to have it will be from Motorola
The first smartphones to equip the Snapdragon 870 are not yet confirmed, with the exception of the Motorola Moto Edge S, which would be the first to release it. This mobile will be launched on January 26.