Qualcomm Launches Three New Snapdragon Mobile Platforms to Address Ongoing Demand for 4G Smartphones

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2020 — Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the launch of three new mobile platforms: the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 720G, 662 and 460, which will enable enhanced user experiences across connectivity, gaming and entertainment. These new mobile platforms enable fast 4G connectivity speeds, deliver key Wi-Fi 6 features and integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 6-series subsystems, support Dual-Frequency (L1 and L5) GNSS to improve location positioning accuracy and robustness, and are the first system-on-chip solutions to support Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). Designed to deliver new and improved AI user experiences across photography, voice assistants, and virtually always-on scenarios for increased contextual awareness, these new platforms also feature the Qualcomm® AI Engine and Qualcomm® Sensing Hub.

“While we see a fast adoption of 5G across geographies globally, we do recognize the continue to remain a focus area for Qualcomm Technologies for regions like India, where it would stay as a key technology for connectivity,” said Rajen Vagadia, vice president and president, Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd. “Our goal is to enable our partners to continue creating solutions that offer seamless connectivity access and exceptional mobile experiences, that consumers can count on.”
“Today’s smartphone users want fast, seamless connectivity, advanced features and long-lasting battery life,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “This expansion of our 4G lineup enables our partners to offer sophisticated solutions that meet global demand and enable a remarkable gaming experience across multiple tiers and price segments.”

For the first time supported on mobile, the Qualcomm® Location Suite now supports up to seven satellite constellations concurrently, including the use of all of NavIC’s operating satellites for more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix (TTFF) position acquisition, and improved robustness of location-based services.

Dr. K Sivan, Chairman ISRO, expressed that “ISRO is very pleased to note NavIC support on Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 Mobile Platforms. I thank Qualcomm Technologies for this support and urge OEMs to leverage it for handset launches in India. The availability of NavIC across multiple Snapdragon mobile platforms will help enhance the geolocation capabilities of smartphones in the region and bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to Indian consumers for their day-to-day use.”

Snapdragon 720G

Snapdragon 720G reimagines extraordinary gaming and entertainment experiences with select Qualcomm® Snapdragon Elite Gaming™ features, striking capture capabilities, and intelligent performance. Leveraging select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features down from premium-tier mobile platforms, Snapdragon 720G delivers smooth HDR game play, dynamic color range and contrast, realistic and immersive in-game environments, and high-quality, synchronized sound with Qualcomm® aptX™ Adaptive. In addition to gaming, enjoy a home theater in your pocket with HDR viewing and super-smooth video streaming with the Qualcomm Spectra™ 350L ISP. You can also capture 4K video or snap massive 192-megapixel photos. Snapdragon 720G also features the latest 5th generation Qualcomm® AI Engine with the improved Qualcomm® Hexagon™ Tensor Accelerator that will enable a host of new AI experiences for gaming, photography, voice assistants, and virtually always-on contextual awareness. The integrated Snapdragon X15 LTE modem supports 3-carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO on two carriers and 256-QAM modulation for fast download speeds up to 800 Mbps – allowing for quick app downloads and smooth video streaming and sharing. In addition, Snapdragon 720G, with FastConnect 6200 subsystem, virtually doubles Wi-Fi speed and range for online gaming and web browsing, compared to single antenna devices while also delivering key Wi-Fi 6 features such as 8×8 sounding with multi-user MIMO for up to 2x improvement over competitive Wi-Fi 6 devices, Target Wake Time for up to 67% better power efficiency and the complete WPA3 security suite, as well as integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio capabilities. Finally, you’ll experience power savings and improved performance due to the Snapdragon 720G’s 8nm process technology and upgraded CPU architecture.

Snapdragon 662

Snapdragon 662 brings astonishing camera and AI capabilities to the 6-series for the first time. It will feature the new Qualcomm Spectra 340T, which supports new triple camera configurations and smooth switching between them—a first in the 6-series. A more robust ISP will enable support for photo capture in the HEIF file format for stunning image quality at half the file size. The addition of the 3rd generation Qualcomm AI Engine with Hexagon Vector Extensions and the Qualcomm Spectra 340T will also enable AI-based user experiences such as avatars, night photography, and face and voice authentication. Snapdragon 662 also features the new Snapdragon X11 LTE modem with peak download speeds up to 390 Mbps thanks to 2-carrier aggregation, 2×2 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation, along with 150 Mbps peak uploads to support a snappy web browsing and social media experience.

Snapdragon 460

Snapdragon 460 boasts a gigantic leap in performance across the board in the 4-series, as well as significant boosts in connectivity, AI and camera improvements1 for the next-generation of mass market smartphones. For the first time in the 4-series, Snapdragon 460 features performance CPU cores and an updated GPU architecture that translates into up to 70% and 60% increase in performance, respectively2. Overall system performance, meanwhile, delivers a 2x increase compared the previous generation. The Hexagon processor with Qualcomm® Hexagon™ Vector eXtensions (HVX) is also introduced into the 4-series for the first time, thereby equipping it with a 3rd generation Qualcomm AI Engine and the Qualcomm Sensing Hub for new AI experiences for photography and voice assistance. The Qualcomm Spectra 340 ISP is also among the many new additions to the 4-series, enabling the platform to capture stunning photographs and support for triple cameras. An integrated Snapdragon X11 LTE modem allows for download speeds up to 390 Mbps and uploads up to 150 Mbps.

To date, more than 85 commercial devices based on Snapdragon 7-series mobile platforms, more than 1600 commercial devices based on Snapdragon 6-series mobile platforms, and more than 2,500 commercial devices based on Snapdragon 4-series mobile platforms have been announced by global OEMs3. Together, the 7-, 6- and 4-series amount to over 4,000 designs – an impressive feat for these segments.

Devices based on Snapdragon 720G are expected to be commercially available in Q1 2020 and devices based on Snapdragon 662 and 460 are expected to be commercially available by the end of 2020.

Partner Quotes

“Demand for high performance chipsets that support intensive usage and gaming is continuously increasing. Moreover, consumers are increasingly demanding seamless connectivity solutions,” said Manu Jain, global vice president, Xiaomi and managing director, Xiaomi India. He further added, “We have worked closely with Qualcomm Technologies to ensure that Snapdragon 720G Technologies, that allows us to deliver best-in-class technologies to our Mi Fans.”

“We are happy to work closely with Qualcomm Technologies who, not only provides us with constant support, but also helps us to continuously deliver cutting-edge and high-quality features, first to our Indian customers. Following our brand dictum of dare to leap, realme along with support of Qualcomm Technologies has achieved many firsts in the Indian market. We were the first brand to launch a smartphone based on the Snapdragon 665 with the realme 5 series in India. We are further excited for our upcoming smartphone launches in 2020 which will feature the brand-new Snapdragon 720G Mobile Platform to help meet the emerging consumer demand,” said Madhav Sheth, chief executive officer, realme India.

1 Compared to Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 450 Mobile Platform.
2 Compared to Qualcomm® Adreno™ 506 GPU.
3 Numbers of commercial devices are as of May 2018 for the Snapdragon 7-series, January 2013 for the Snapdragon 6-series, and December 2012 for the Snapdragon 4-series.