A solution for today’s chip shortage?
Recognition: Supplied by Qualcomm
- Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 778G processor.
- It’s essentially a slightly tweaked twist on the Snapdragon 780G.
- Expect the first phones with this new SoC in the second quarter of 2021.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 780G earlier this year, which is a major upgrade for the Snapdragon 700 series. Now the company has announced another addition to the family in the Snapdragon 778G. And as the name suggests, the new chipset has a lot in common with the previously announced SoC.
The Snapdragon 778G has the same octa-core CPU configuration as the previously announced SoC and has four high-performance Cortex-A78 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores. The company is promoting an increase in CPU performance of over 40% compared to the Snapdragon 768G, which was used in several upper mid-range devices last year.
Qualcomm’s latest chipset also features an Adreno 642L GPU, which appears to be very similar to the Adreno 642 graphics in the 780G (presumably the “L” refers to lower clock speeds). Even so, the chip maker claims that graphics rendering has improved by up to 40% compared to the Snapdragon 768G. Graphics performance was a huge area of improvement for the Snapdragon 76X family. We are therefore pleased that progress is being made here.
What else does the Snapdragon 778G offer?
Another area where we see a lot of common features is in the camera category, as the 778G uses a Triple Image Signal Processor (ISP) similar to the 780G. According to Qualcomm, this ISP offers two gigapixels per second of processing capacity, which is slightly less than the advertised 2.5 gigapixels per second of the 780G. Even so, it only seems to be yesterday that the Snapdragon 865 also had two gigapixels per second of camera processing power. This triple ISP also allows 4K HDR video (in HDR10 +) and simultaneous recording of three videos or photos from three different cameras.
Other common / similar features include a Hexagon 770 processor with 12 TOPs of machine learning power, an integrated Snapdragon X53 5G modem (supports mmWave and Sub-6GHz), Wi-Fi 6E support and Bluetooth 5.2 functions.
Read more: All Qualcomm Snapdragon processors have been explained
One main area of difference, however, is in the manufacturing process, as the 778G is a 6nm design compared to the 5nm design of the 780G.
Speaking of manufacturing: the industry-wide chip shortage has also affected the smartphone industry. So will the company be able to keep up with demand for the Snapdragon 778G? We notified Qualcomm, and a representative said a different foundry would be used to make the newly announced chipset.
When do you expect phones with the new chipset?
According to Qualcomm, the first devices with the Snapdragon 778G are expected to hit the market in the second quarter of 2021. That means it only takes a few weeks to see phones. But who brings these devices?
The company specifically stated that Honor, Iqoo, Motorola, Oppo, Realme and Xiaomi will offer Snapdragon 778G devices. Qualcomm’s press release even states that the new chipset will power the upcoming Honor 50 series.
