In 2016, several mid-range smartphones were powered by Snapdragon 652 and Snapdragon 625 chipsets. Earlier today, Qualcomm unveiled their upgraded versions such as Snapdragon 660 and Snapdragon 630 chipsets that not only offers better performance but also promises faster LTE connectivity and enhanced battery life.
Snapdragon 660
The Snapdragon 660 is a 14nm chipset that includes four cores of Kryo 260 working at 2.2 GHz and another four cores of Kryo 260 functioning at 1.8 GHz. Qualcomm has not revealed any information on what constitutes the Kryo 260 cores, but it is likely that the company may have built it using ARM Cortex Technology that it used for Kryo 280 present in Snapdragon 835 chipset for flagship phones.
It features Adreno 512 graphics with Vulkan API support. According to Qualcomm, the CPU of the Snapdragon 660 offers 20 percent better performance and its GPU offers 30 percent better graphics performance than the Snapdragon 653 chipset.
The maximum resolution supported by the chipset is 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. It supports4K Ultra HD video shooting at 30 fps and full HD video shooting at 120 fps. The Snapdragon X12 LTE modem offers a maximum download speed of up to 600 Mbps and upload speeds of 150 Mbps. The Snapdragon 660 chipset includes Hexagon 680 DSP All-Ways Aware Hub, dual 14-bit Spectra 160 ISP with support for up to 24-megapixel camera, up to 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM, memory speeds of 1866 MHz, Bluetooth 5, USB Type-C 3.1, 2 x 2 MIMO Wi-Fi, and Quick Charge 4.0.
Snapdragon 630
The Snapdragon 630 is not so powerful in comparison to SD 660. The 14nm chipset has four cores of Cortex A53 working at 2.2 GHz whereas the remaining four cores of Cortex A53 function at 1.8 GHz. Its Adreno 508 graphics support Vulkan API.
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The Snapdragon 630 carries support for a maximum screen resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels. It offers features like Hexagon 680 DSP All-Ways Aware Hub, dual 14-bit Spectra 160 ISP with support for up 24-megapixel camera, 4K UHD video recording at 30 fps and full HD video shooting at 120 fps, 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM, memory speeds of 1333 MHz, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C 3.1, Snapdragon X12 LTE modem with 600 Mbps downlink speeds and 150 Mbps and enhanced chips for machine learning, and Quick Charge 4.0
Also, both chipsets have been built to deliver improved battery performance. For example, while using location based services, users can experience around 50 to 75 percent lower consumption of battery. Even the power consumption during downloading on Wi-Fi has been reduced by 60 percent on Snapdragon 660.
The Snapdragon 660 and 630 chipsets have been manufactured to bring flagship-like performance on affordable smartphones. Qualcomm has also started shipping the Snapdragon 660 SoC whereas the Snapdragon 660 shipments will start at the end of this month. Smartphones running on these new chipsets are expected to get announced beginning from June and these devices can be made available for buying by the third quarter of this year. Some of the smartphones that are rumored to be powered by Snapdragon 660 include OPPO R11, Samsung Galaxy C10, Sony Xperia X Ultra, Vivo X9s Plus, Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2, Xiaomi Mi Max 2, and Nokia 7/8.
