Qualcomm has announced four new processors in its 400 and 600 chip series in hopes of bringing high-end features to its mid-tier line-ups.
Most notably, the new Snapdragon 620 and 618 make use of ARM’s new 64-bit Cortex-A72 processors, as well as the new X8 LTE modem.
This newfound heft means both chips will be able to support 4K video capture and playback, HEVC hardware encoding, and improved gaming graphics.
The two new entrants to the 400-series are the Snapdragon 425 and the Snapdragon 415.
The interesting point about these two chips is that they’re the first 400-series units to boast eight processor cores.
The 425 will also come with the X8 LTE modem, while the 415 will get the slightly lower-end X5 LTE modem – that’s good for 150Mbps download speeds.
The aforementioned X8 LTE is a new Cat.7 modem class for Qualcomm, bringing download speeds of up to 300Mbps, as well as upload speeds of 100Mbps.
The X5 LTE modem featured on the Snapdragon 415, meanwhile, boasts 4G LTE Cat.4 support.
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All of this marks a much welcome trickling down of high-end tech into Qualcomm’s mid-range chipsets.
Alex Katouzian, Senior VP of Product Management at Qualcomm, said: “It has always been Qualcomm Technologies’ strategy to introduce industry-leading features first at the premium Snapdragon 800 tier design point, and then scale these features into our Snapdragon 600,400, and 200 products.”
The Snapdragon 620, 518, and 425 chips will be available in the second half of 2015.
The Snapdragon 415, however, is already sampling with OEMs now, and will land in devices in the first half of 2015.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
