The recent economic downturn has seen customers from across all regions turn their attention towards so-called budget flagships and away from more traditional premium devices.
Qualcomm is aware of the current situation, so today it’s announcing the perfect platform for upcoming budget Android flagships — Snapdragon 870 5G.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 5G is a faster version of the Snapdragon 865 Plus
Created as a follow-on to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus platform, the Snapdragon 870 introduces enhanced Kryo 585 CPU prime cores clocked at up to 3.2GHz, up from 3.1GHz last time.
It retains the Snapdragon X55 5G modem that was used in countless Android devices last year, so customers can expect support for both Sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G networks.
Qualcomm is continuing its focus on gaming capabilities too. The Snapdragon 870 platform once again incorporates the Snapdragon Elite Gaming experience, which enables ‘desktop-level rendering’ and ‘hyper-realistic graphics.’
This is coupled with the Adreno 650 GPU and the ability to update GPU drives without updating the operating system. Qualcomm has included the Game Smoother and Adreno Fast Blend features for a more seamless gaming experience.
The rest of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 5G platform is also identical to the previous-gen Snapdragon 865 Plus. The only difference, aside from the CPU clock speed, is found in the Wi-Fi department.
Whereas the Snapdragon 865 Plus offered support for Wi-Fi 6E networks, which enables Wi-Fi support over faster 6GHz networks, the Snapdragon 870 takes a step back and only works with the more traditional Wi-Fi 6 standard (2.4GHz & 5GHz).
Which smartphones will use the Snapdragon 870 5G?
Qualcomm claims to have created the Snapdragon 870 platform to address existing OEM and mobile industry requirements. This is evidenced by the list of partners that have committed to using the platform in flagship products.
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The first Snapdragon 870-powered smartphones will be announced later this quarter.
OnePlus
Kinder Liu, the Chief Operating Officer and Head of R&D at OnePlus, says the brand looks forward to “delivering lightning-fast 5G speeds and ultra-smooth mobile experiences to more users” with Qualcomm’s new platform.
OnePlus hasn’t revealed which upcoming device is going to use the Snapdragon 870, but recent information certainly gives us a solid idea.
The OnePlus 9E is rumored to include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus. Considering the similarities between the two platforms and OnePlus’ commitment, though, the Snapdragon 870 now seems like the obvious choice for that phone.
It should be unveiled in late March alongside the Snapdragon 888-powered OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, which falls in line with the official timeline provided by Qualcomm.
Motorola
Motorola says it strives to “deliver meaningful innovations that matter.” With this new platform, the brand hopes to reinforce its commitment to 5G as the networks expand across the globe.
Last month, the Lenovo-owned brand committed to bringing Snapdragon 800-series commitments to the Moto G series. This new chipset might enables this, and therefore could be the one powering the leaked Motorola Nio.
Oppo, Xiaomi, and iQOO
Other companies committed to releasing Snapdragon 870-powered smartphones in the near future are Xiaomi and Oppo, as well as lesser-known brand iQOO. None of them have named specific devices, but we can make some educated guesses.
On the Oppo front, the Find X3 Neo is perhaps the most likely Snapdragon 870 candidate. The Snapdragon 765 was used in 2020 and, considering there are no plans for a standard Find X3, an upgrade to a Snapdragon 800-series chip would make sense.
Xiaomi, on the other hand, could use the Snapdragon 870 inside the upcoming Redmi K40. Rumors about a cheaper variant have been floating around in recent days, and this chip would fulfill that need.
Which device iQOO will introduce with the Snapdragon 870 is a bit more of a mystery. It recently unveiled the Snapdragon 888-powered iQOO 7, so perhaps a Neo-branded variant with the Snapdragon 870 is in the works.
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