C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 smartphone processor.
- It offers a significantly more powerful CPU and GPU compared to the previous generation, as well as a 4nm design.
- This chip will likely power a variety of cheap Android phones.
Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 6 series of processors powers a variety of cheap Android phones, from Motorola and Xiaomi to Samsung and HONOR. Now, the company has revealed the Snapdragon 6s Gen 4, which brings some notable improvements.
For starters, Qualcomm says this is the first Snapdragon 6 series chip built on a 4nm manufacturing process (Samsung). That’s a notable deal, as a smaller manufacturing process typically results in a more efficient chipset and improved performance. There’s no word on specific efficiency gains compared to the 6nm Snapdragon 6s Gen 3, though.
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The Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 uses the same old Cortex-A78 and A55 CPU cores as its predecessor, albeit with a 100MHz peak clock speed boost. Look a little closely, though, and you’ll see that the CPU layout has undergone a significant change. The new chip now sports a 4+4 layout (four big cores and four little cores) versus the previous silicon’s 2+6 layout. Taken together with the smaller manufacturing process, it’s no wonder Qualcomm says CPU performance has improved by 36%. This is good news for more demanding tasks that require multi-core power, such as video encoding and media editing. This is particularly good news for emulation, as some emulators (e.g., NetherSX2 for PS2) require multiple big CPU cores for demanding games.
The chip designer also says you can expect a 59% better GPU, as well as variable rate shading, Qualcomm Game Quick Touch to reduce touch latency, and support for a 144Hz refresh rate (up from 120Hz). This all makes for a pretty substantial upgrade if you want to game on your next budget phone.
Qualcomm has also paid attention to camera capabilities, as the Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 supports 200MP snapshots (up from 108MP) and 240fps slow-mo capture at 720p (up from 120fps/720p). Weirdly enough, the older chip’s spec sheet lists support for storage-saving HEVC video capture, while the new chip’s product page skips this mention. We’ve asked Qualcomm about this apparent omission and will update the article if or when we receive a response.
Other notable upgrades include Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 6E, a 5G modem topping out at 2.9Gbps downlink speeds, and support for LPDDR5 RAM. By contrast, the older chip offered Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 5, 2.5Gbps cellular downlink speeds, and support for the older LPDDR4X RAM standard.
There’s no word on a release timeframe for the first phones with the Snapdragon 6s Gen 4, nor is there any word on potential device partners. Nevertheless, history suggests that brands like Motorola, Xiaomi, and HONOR might be working on phones with this processor.
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