Qualcomm's New SoCs Bring NavIC Support, Better Performance, Camera to Budget Phones

Qualcomm has announced three new chipsets targeted at budget and mid-range smartphones. The new chipsets, namely Snapdragon 720G, Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460, are the first SoCs to support India's Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) geolocation services. Furthermore, they bring Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 to the mid-range and budget segments, as well as overhauls in the image signal processors to bring support for 192-megapixel sensors to the Snapdragon 720G and triple camera setups to the other two chipsets, targeted possibly at budget smartphones.

The Snapdragon 720G is the most decked up chipset in the range, featuring the aptX Adaptive engine for better audio performance, the Spectra 350L ISP for unlocked 4K video recording or 192-megapixel photographs. Predictive engines onboard include the 5th generation AI engine, and the Hexagon Tensor Accelerator for better background performance. The Snapdragon 720G is based on Qualcomm's 8nm architecture, and features Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. By the sound of things, the Snapdragon 720G is a great fit for mid-range premium devices that are targeted at specific areas such as gaming, or photography.

In contrast, the Snapdragon 662 features the 3rd generation AI engine, and the Spectra 340T image processor that facilitates triple camera setups in mid-budget range devices. The Snapdragon 460, meanwhile, makes a tall claim of 70 percent processing power and 60 percent graphic power improvement over previous generation Snapdragon 4-series processors, which felt like a clear compromise. It even features the 3rd gen AI engine, coupled with the Hexagon co-processor and the Spectra 340 ISP for triple camera photography. All things considered, it is the Snapdargon 460 that sounds the most interesting and improved package of the lot.

While smartphones based on the Snapdragon 720G are expected by March 2020, the other two chipsets are said to be available in production devices by end 2020. Both Xiaomi and Realme have announced that they will be among the first to launch a smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 720G, which as per announcements, should be available within the next two months.