In its aim of making 5G affordable for more consumers, Qualcomm has recently announced the Snapdragon 690, its first 6-series SoC with 5G support, courtesy of an X51 modem.
The Snapdragon 690 offers up to 20% faster CPU speeds and up to 60% faster graphics. It will support sub-6GHz SA, NSA, and global 5G bands. No support for mmWave here, as the company reserves that feature for the higher-end chips.
For the camera department, the new SoC supports HDR video encoding at 4K/30fps and up to 192MP still shots. It also supports up to 120Hz refresh rate at up to 1080p+ resolution, Quick Charge 4+, and Wi-Fi 6 on Qualcomm’s FastConnect 6200 system.
Other features include an AI Engine called ARCSOFT that packs features for better looking and less jittery Snapchat filters and smoother transitions from one camera to another.
We can expect to see the Snapdragon 690 on devices starting on the second half of 2020. OEMs expected to use this SoC include HMD, LG, Motorola, Sharp, TCL and WingTech.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.