It has been 2 years since the official commercial use of 5G in the world. More than 150 operators around the world have begun commercial deployment of 5G. This year, the shipment of 5G mobile phones will reach 450 million to 550 million units, and it will exceed 750 million units in 2022. , becoming the mainstream in the market, 5G will also release huge energy in various fields, changing the economic model of human society.

In the process of 5G penetration into each field, which 5G chip the terminal device chooses is the most critical part. At present, there are not many chip companies that can provide 5G solutions, and the total number in the world will not exceed 10. The main ones are Qualcomm and other three There are four, of which Qualcomm occupies the majority share.

According to the data of the authoritative research firm Strategy Analytics, in the 5G market in the first quarter of this year, Qualcomm accounted for 53% of the baseband chip share, one company surpassed all other companies, and the 5G baseband share was as high as 70%.

Since the world’s first 5G baseband chip in 2016, Qualcomm has now developed four generations of 5G chips, which also cover smartphones, tablets, PCs, Internet of Things, VR/AR, robots, autonomous driving, etc. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon The Dragon 5G chip has also developed a number of series, from the entry-level Snapdragon 4 series to the flagship Snapdragon 8 series.

As the saying goes, the nine sons of Longsheng are different. There are almost eight or nine types of 5G chips under Snapdragon, and each series/model has different performances. Today, I will take stock of the different special effects and technological breakthroughs of Snapdragon 5G chips. When you buy a Snapdragon mobile phone, you have a lot in mind.

Snapdragon 4 Series: 5G entry-level platform, three ISPs, 120Hz are all available

The Snapdragon 4 series is Qualcomm’s entry-level 5G platform. The Snapdragon 480 was released in January this year, bringing the entire series into the 5G era. It is expected to allow half of the world’s population to use 5G and play the important role of 5G popularization.

Although it is an entry-level platform, the Snapdragon 4 series represented by the Snapdragon 480 is not weak at all. It integrates the Snapdragon X51 5G baseband, the same as the Snapdragon 690, and still fully supports Sub-6GHz, millimeter wave, and supports global frequency bands, Global multi-SIM card, support SA/NSA two networking modes, support TDD, FDD and dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), the transmission rate is up to 2.5Gbps for upload and 900Mbps for download.

In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 480 is equipped with eight Kryo 460 CPU cores, the same as the Snapdragon 675/678, including two high-performance A76 2.0GHz and six energy-efficient 1.8GHz A55, which improves the performance compared to the Snapdragon 460. Can exceed 100%.

At the same time, it integrates the Adreno 619 GPU, the same as the Snapdragon 750G, and the performance is also improved by more than 100%. It also supports GPU driver updates.

It is worth noting that the Snapdragon 480 has also created 9 firsts on the 5G entry-level platform. In addition to supporting 5G, it also uses an 8nm process, supports 120Hz high-speed brushes, integrates three ISP units for the first time, and supports up to 64 million for the first time. Pixel shooting also supports QC4+ fast charging. As a thousand-yuan 5G platform, the specifications are very powerful.

Snapdragon 6 series: 4K HDR, 200 million pixels, AI engine all live

If the 5G capability of the Snapdragon 4 series is subsistence, then the 5G chips of the Snapdragon 6 series will begin to pursue a well-off life, and the configuration and functions in all aspects are also much more powerful. The Snapdragon 690, which was launched last year, also created 6 First.

In terms of 5G, the Snapdragon 690 5G integrates the Snapdragon X51 5G baseband and radio frequency system for the first time, supporting the sub-6GHz and millimeter wave global 5G frequency bands, global SA/NSA dual-mode, global multi-SIM card, FDD/ TDD dual standard, dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), and supports 100MHz bandwidth, 4 × 4 MIMO, network speed up to 2.5Gbps.

In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 690 5G is manufactured using Samsung’s 8nm process. For the first time, it adopts the newly optimized Kryo 560 CPU architecture, which is based on the ARM A77/A55 design, including two large-core A77s and six small-core A55s. The highest frequencies are respectively It is 2.0GHz and 1.7GHz, and the performance is improved by up to 20%. At the same time, the new Adreno 619L GPU is integrated, and the graphics rendering performance is improved by up to 60%.

In other respects, the Snapdragon 690 also supports 192 million pixel shooting, supports 4K HDR video shooting, supports 120Hz high-speed brushing, and supports the fifth-generation AI engine for the first time, and the AI ​​performance is 70% higher than the previous generation.

From the Snapdragon 4 series to the Snapdragon 6 series, the upgrade of 5G mobile phones has changed from sufficient to easy to use.

Snapdragon 7 series: positioning high-end, more popular in the market

Compared with other series, the Snapdragon 7 series is much younger. It was only launched in recent years. It mainly focuses on the sub-flagship market. Qualcomm also made the Snapdragon 7 series chip according to the needs of the domestic market, and the comprehensive experience is close to the flagship machine. level, but the price is much cheaper.

The Snapdragon 7 series in the 5G era is also developing rapidly. Before that, everyone was familiar with the Snapdragon 765/765G, followed by the Snapdragon 780G. In May this year, the Snapdragon 778G series was launched, which is a comprehensive Snapdragon 5G chip. The representative of flowering, and probably the most popular on the market.

Taking the latest Snapdragon 778G as an example, it pays more attention to multimedia experience and claims to be a “triathlon” in terms of ISP imaging, AI artificial intelligence, and GPU games. It is also Qualcomm’s first 5G chip with 6nm process.

In terms of 5G/Wi-Fi, the Snapdragon 778G integrates the Snapdragon X53 5G baseband, supports millimeter wave (400MHz bandwidth/2×2 MIMO), Sub-6GHz frequency band (100MHz bandwidth/4×4 MIMO), and has a peak download speed of 3 .7Gbps, and also supports Wi-Fi 6/6E, with a maximum rate of 2.9Gbps.

In terms of performance, the CPU of the Snapdragon 778G is based on a customized version of the ARM A78 architecture Kryo 670, with a maximum frequency of 2.4GHz, which claims to have a performance improvement of up to 40%, while the GPU is an Adreno 624L GPU, which claims to have a performance improvement of up to 40% in image rendering, and supports Snapdragon Features of Elite Gaming, including Variable Resolution Rendering (VRS), Game Quick Touch.

In terms of AI, the Snapdragon 778G supports the latest sixth-generation AI engine, with a performance of up to 12TOPS (12 trillion times), supports three-way ISP, can process 2 billion pixels per second, supports triple concurrency, triple parallel processing, single camera The highest is 192 million pixels, the dual camera is up to 36 million + 22 million pixels, and the triple camera is up to 22 million pixels.

In terms of photography, the Snapdragon 778G can make full use of the capabilities of AI and ISP, provide intelligent 3A algorithm shooting, optimize image quality, and also support front single-camera background blur.

The Snapdragon 778G is still a new product. Honor has launched the Snapdragon 778G on the digital flagship Honor 50 series. It can run at full frame 90fps in games such as the King of Glory. Other brands will follow up to launch the 5G mobile phone of the Snapdragon 778G.

Snapdragon 8 Series: Everything the ultimate tech flagship wants

The Snapdragon 8 series has been the flagship of the Snapdragon family from the very beginning, and it is also the case in the 5G era. Three generations of Snapdragon 8 series 5G chips have been developed. The latest is the Snapdragon 888 series, and there are 150 models so far. The terminal uses the Snapdragon 888, and almost all domestic brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, ZTE, iQOO, realme, Black Shark, and Meizu have followed suit.

The specifications of the Snapdragon 888 are familiar to everyone. Samsung 5nm process, the world’s first ARM’s first super large core architecture Cortex-X1, frequency 2.84GHz, there are 3 A78 cores, 4 A55 cores, CPU performance Compared with the previous generation, the overall performance has increased by 25%, and the energy efficiency has also increased by 25%.

In terms of games, the Snapdragon 888 integrates the latest-generation Adreno 660 GPU, which officially claims to increase graphics rendering performance by 35% and energy efficiency by 20%.

In terms of AI, the Snapdragon 888 integrates the sixth-generation AI engine with a performance of 26TOPS (26 trillion times). Combined with the faster Hexagon 780 unit, the energy efficiency is 3 times higher than the previous generation, and some performance tests are even 1000 times higher.

Not long ago, Qualcomm also routinely launched an upgraded version of the Snapdragon 888 Plus. On the basis of the Snapdragon 888, the CPU core frequency was increased to 3.0GHz, and the AI ​​performance was increased to 32TOPS, an increase of 20%. Asus, Honor, vivo, Xiaomi Mobile phone manufacturers have already stated that they are developing products based on the Snapdragon 888 Plus, and the first batch of products is expected to be officially released in the third quarter of this year.

In general, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series chips have long become mainstream in 5G smartphones, and Qualcomm has also launched multiple series of 5G Snapdragon platforms for different markets, from the Snapdragon 4 series to the Snapdragon 8 series to fill the market. From the thousand yuan level to the ten thousand yuan level, there is a suitable Snapdragon 5G chip at each price point to meet the different needs of consumers.