Qualcomm‘s latest Snapdragon 865 chipset is already powering some flagship models in the market. One thing to note about the models that have so far been released with the Snapdragon 865 chipset is their hefty price tags. Apart from the Redmi K30 Pro which was announced recently with a sub-$500 starting price in China, several others like the Mi 10, iQOO 3, Black Shark phone and several others are priced expensively in some cases going beyond $1000 like the Galaxy S20 series and Sony Xperia 1 II.
Most of the OEMs, like Xiaomi which is known for its affordable flagship, cited skyrocketing components prices for the high retail prices. The Snapdragon 865 chipset is one of such expensive components. It is more expensive than previous years’ models, partly due to the improvements in the 5G band and others. However, while most OEMs have transmitted the high cost to the end-users, there are reports that Google and LG are both unwilling to use the chipset on their 2020 flagships. Both OEMs are said to have opted for a cheaper chip instead.
On its part, Google is expected to launch the Pixel 5 series which include the Pixel 5, Pixel 5 XL and Pixel 5a this year. A report by XDA Developers in January had revealed that the Pixel 5 series won’t use a Snapdragon 865 chipset but are equipped with a Snapdragon 765G premium mid-range SoC as seen on the Android repository.
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Also, a report by Korean website Naver says that LG is looking to adopt an approach similar to Google’s on the LG G9 ThiQ. The G9 ThinQ will reportedly be powered by a Snapdragon 765G chipset instead of the Snapdragon 865. Recall that this is the same thing HMD global id with the Nokia 8.3 5G which was launched with a Snapdragon 765G chipset. There is also the ZTE Axon 11 5G packing the same Soc. A Vivo model with a Snapdragon 765 SoC had also appeared on GeekBench earlier on.
The Snapdragon 765G is the first Qualcomm modem that is integrated with a 5G. The Snapdragon 865 SoC still has to be bunded with a separate Snapdragon X55 5G modem. Qualcomm is said to have made it compulsory for OEM to integrate the SD865 with the X55 modem. This explains the absence of a 4G version but then, 4G phones won’t fly in the era of 5G. However, this has led to a more delicate motherboard design as well as bigger battery and screen size, thus driving production cost upwards.
In terms of the configuration, the Snapdragon 765G isn’t as fast as the flagship SD 865. It features two Cortex-A76 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores. While the Snapdragon 865 uses four A77 cores and four A55 cores. However, the difference shouldn’t be too noticeable with the right software optimisation in place, something Google can handle.
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