What you need to know
- The Snapdragon 778G 5G is Qualcomm's latest mobile chipset for premium mid-range devices.
- It brings a 40% increase in overall CPU performance and 40% faster graphics over the previous generation.
- Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme, OPPO, Honor, and iQOO are soon expected to launch new devices powered by the Snapdragon 778G chipset.
Qualcomm today announced the Snapdragon 778G 5G mobile platform at its annual 5G summit. The new chipset is built on a 6nm process and is set to power several upcoming "high-tier" phones from leading Android OEMs. It uses Qualcomm's Kryo 670 CPU, touting a 40% jump in performance compared to the previous generation. Qualcomm is also claiming an impressive 40% improvement in graphics rendering with the Adreno 642L GPU.
Similar to the Snapdragon 780G chipset announced in March, the new Snapdragon 778G offers a number of features that had so far been limited to Qualcomm's flagship 800-series chips. It has a Triple ISP that supports 4K HDR10+ video capture and Staggered HDR image sensors. There's also a 6th generation Qualcomm AI Engine powered by the Hexagon 770 processor, providing up to 12 TOPs and a 2x performance increase over the previous generation. Since high-refresh-rate screens are slowly becoming standard fare on the best cheap Android phones, the latest Snapdragon 700-series chip offers display support up to 144Hz.
When it comes to connectivity, the Snapdragon 778G features an integrated Snapdragon X53 5G Modem-RF system with "truly global" mmWave and sub-6 5G capabilities. Additionally, the chipset includes support for the latest Bluetooth 5.2 standard and Wi-Fi 6 speeds up to 2.9Gbps. Qualcomm says the first smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 778G 5G will arrive later this quarter.
Alongside the Snapdragon 778G 5G, Qualcomm has also announced new Plug-and-Play 5G cards based on its Snapdragon X65 and X62 5G M.2 references designs. Qualcomm is hoping that the new reference designs will help drive 5G adoption in categories such as PCs, tablets, and routers. Qualcomm's X65 5G Modem-RF system, was which announced earlier this year, is also getting upgraded features — including wider support for mmWave carriers globally and improved power efficiency.
