Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Announced As New Mid-Range Gaming Chipset

Qualcomm has announced a new chipset that’s also the successor to the Snapdragon 670, which was launched just three months ago. The new chipset is called the Snapdragon 675 and it focuses on delivering a better gaming experience on Android smartphones, as well as support for triple-camera setups.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 may be the successor to the 670, but it has a few downgraded specs. The new chipset is constructed with an 11nm process instead of 10nm. The integrated GPU is an Adreno 612 instead of the Adreno 615 that’s found on the Snapdragon 670, as pointed out by Android Authority. Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon 675 isn’t really about its specs, but how it is able to perform better overall.

Qualcomm noted that the Snapdragon 675 will be able to launch games faster by 30 percent and launch music faster by 20 percent. The chipset is also able to deliver 35 percent faster web browsing and 15 percent faster launch of social media apps. Qualcomm has also optimized the chip to support high frame rates, including smartphones that have 120Hz displays.

The chipmaker is indeed pushing for the Snapdragon 675 to be used for gaming smartphones despite only being a mid-range System-on-Chip. Qualcomm also wants to bring high-end gaming experiences to mid-range smartphones by optimizing game engines like Unity and Unreal for the Snapdragon 600 series, according to Android Police.

Another thing that the Snapdragon 675 is able to support is a triple-lens camera system. The new chip comes equipped with a Spectra 200 series image signal processor to make this possible. The image signal processor enables the Snapdragon 675 to support camera lenses that have 5x optical zoom. The Spectra 200 series is also able to bring some high-end features to mid-range smartphones like real-time bokeh for taking photos, support for wide-angle lenses and even 3D facial recognition authentication for unlocking phones.

Since a lot of manufacturers are putting artificial intelligence features on Android smartphones, the Snapdragon 675 also brings in some improvements on that front. Qualcomm said that the 675 is able to deliver 50 percent enhancement on AI performance.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 is designed for Android smartphones in the $300 to $500 price range. Consumers should begin seeing smartphones powered by this chipset starting in the first quarter of 2019. Xiaomi is said to be one of the first manufacturers to release a phone powered by the Snapdragon 675.