American multinational company Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon 690 chipset. The new SoC is an effort from the tech company to bring the buzzing 5G to more smartphones. Prior to this move, the 5G modem is only available on high-end smartphones. The Snapdragon 600 series is for the mid-range segment of the market, and this move ensures that they will be getting their first 5G enabled smartphone. While there isn’t any smartphone yet powered by this chipset, we decided to break down its key specs and features for you all.
Snapdragon X51 5G Modem-RF system
Of course, the first specs to discuss is the X51 5G modem. The chipset combines strength and speed with power efficiency to achieve sustainable and superior connectivity. As expected, it has support for global bands, NSA (non-standalone), SA (standalone), and global multi-SIM enable connections worldwide. The Snapdragon X51 system features sub-6GHz 5G with 100MHz of bandwidth and 4×4 MIMO. The downlink speed is 2.5 Gbps while the uplink speed is 660 Mbps.
5th Generation AI Engine
The Snapdragon 690 chip features Qualcomm’s 5th generation AI engine and also the Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator (HTA). Both are first-timers in the Qualcomm 600-series. The AI performance saw an increase of up to 70% compared to its predecessor – Snapdragon 675 SoC. This will promote power intuitive experiences at impressive speeds and exceptional efficiency.
Qualcomm Spectra 355L ISP
The improved spectra 355L supports high megapixel capture, noise cancellation technology and fast autofocus for brighter and sharper 4K HDR professional-quality videos in over a billion shades of colour. It consists of a dual 14-bits ISPs, supports up to 192MP cameras and up to 48MP MFNR (multi-frame noise reduction). For dual camera setup, it supports 32MP & 16MP lens at 30fps.
Kryo 560 CPU
The chipset features an Octa-core CPU with a 2+6 configuration setup. The two big/main cores are the Kryo 560 cores (clocked at 2.0 GHz) which alongside the 8nm process node enables intense performance with ultimate power efficiency. The other six cores are the ARM Cortex-A55 cores. The Kryo 560 cores are Qualcomm’s customized version of the ARM Cortex-A77 cores. The CPU performance sees a 20% increase compared to what you have on the Snapdragon 675.
Adreno 619L GPU
According to Qualcomm, this GPU is 60% faster than the Adreno 612 GPU in the Snapdragon 675. It may be a just marketing strategy and in the end, the difference in performance isn’t all that much. The Adreno 619L GPU features Physically Based Rendering (PBR) and Vulkan 1.1 API that will ensure seamless graphics rendering.
Display
The FHD+ display at 120 Hz refresh rate along with the Adreno 619L GPU will enable smooth and lifelike imagery especially when gaming. This is the first time a chipset in the 600-series gets the 120 Hz display refresh rate. The maximum external display here is QHD+ at a reduced 60 Hz. The chipset supports 10-bits colour display, HDR10 and HDR10+. It remains to be seen if mid-range smartphones will be equipped with this high-end display.
These are the Snapdragon 690 key specs and features. Other notable features of this chipset include Qualcomm’s quick charge 4+, the Qualcomm FastConnect 6200 connectivity system which powers the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on the chip, and Qualcomm’s Aqstic audio codec, Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator and Aqstic smart speaker amplifier. The Snapdragon 690 also supports India’s NavIC GNSS system.
