Qualcomm's Snapdragon family of processors is growing again today with the introduction of three more chipsets.
First up is the Snapdragon 730. Qualcomm touts that the Snapdragon 730 includes its latest multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine, which is twice as powerful as the chip in the Snapdragon 710 and offers faster on-device interactions for camera, gaming, voice, and security. The 730 also has a Spectra 350 that can get you up to four times the power savings in computer vision tasks while also letting you capture 4K HDR videos in portrait mode with bokeh.
The Snapdragon 730 has an octa-core Kryo 470 processor that goes up to 2.2GHz, Adreno 618 GPU, Quick Charge 4+ fast charging tech that can get you a 50 percent charge in 15 minutes, and a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem that supports LTE Category 15 downlink, 3x20MHz carrier aggregation, and peak LTE download speeds of 800Mbps.
Also announced today is the Snapdragon 730G, a gaming-focused version of the Snapdragon 730. The Snapdragon 730G includes many of the same features as the standard 730, but Qualcomm says that it's got an "enhanced Adreno 618 GPU" that offers up to 15 percent faster graphics rendering compared to the 730. Qualcomm is also including a Jank Reducer feature to reduce janks by up to 90 percent in games running at 30fps, as well as a Wi-Fi latency manager to optimize network settings and Wi-Fi configurations.
To further help the Snapdragon 730G run games smoothly, Qualcomm collaborated with several game makers to optimize the 730G for some of the world's top-rated games. Mobile gaming is becoming bigger and bigger, as evidenced by the popularity of titles like Fortnite and PUBG as well as the recent trend of gaming smartphones, and so it's smart for Qualcomm to churn out a chipset that's focused on mobile gaming.
Finally, there's the Snapdragon 665. This new chipset is up to twice as fast at AI on-device processing compared to the Snapdragon 660, and it's got a Spectra 165 ISP that includes AI support that'll help with scene recognition and auto adjustments when you're snapping photos. The 665 supports triple rear camera setups including features like telephoto, wide angle, and ultra wide angle lenses, as well as snappers up to 48MP.
Qualcomm has equipped the Snapdragon 665 with an octa-core Kryo 260 processor that can be clocked up to 2.0GHz. There's an Adreno 610 GPU in there, too, up from the Snapdragon 660's Adreno 512 GPU. Also included in the 665 is Quick Charge 4+ fast charging and the Snapdragon X12 modem with support for 3x20MHz carrier aggregation and peak LTE download speeds of 600Mbps.
Expect to see Qualcomm's Snapdragon 730, 730G, and 665 chipsets appearing in commercial devices in mid-2019. These new Snapdragons will help power several mid-range devices, bringing improved performance and features that ought to help close the gap between mid-range devices and their pricier high-end counterparts.