One of the biggest problems with 5G is the impact it has on phone prices, it often increases the cost of current phones by around $ 100 or more compared to standard 4G phones. But with the introduction of its new Snapdragon 480 chip, Qualcomm wants to make 5G phones much more affordable.
Despite being part of Qualcomm’s 400 series mobile chip family, the Snapdragon 480 not only supports sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave, it also features an eight-core processor consisting of two high-performance six-core Cortex A76 cores. Cortex A55 to increase energy efficiency. This means that the Snapdragon 480 could offer performance levels similar to the Snapdragon 730G chip used in phones like the $ 350 Pixel 4th, but with added support for next-generation cellular networks. Of course something that will be of great help to all phone manufacturers who want to create budget 5G phones.
In terms of wireless connectivity, the Snapdragon 480 uses an integrated X51 modem that Qualcomm claims can reach download speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps or uploads of up to 660 Mbps at 5G or maximum download speeds of up to at 800 Mbps when connected to a regular 4G LTE Network In addition to 5G, the Snapdragon 480 also supports Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6.
And while it was designed to be an input chip, the Snapdragon 480 can also offer some high-end features that were previously only found on premium phones, such as support for 120 Hz screens (at resolutions FHD +), photo capture with up to three cameras to one (up to 13 MP each), triple simultaneous video capture (up to 720p) and even 70% improved intellectual performance than the Snapdragon 460 chip previous.
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EThe excitement for the new mobile chips can be silenced a bit, even when we talk about SoC badges like the next Snapdragon 888, But with Qualcomm targeting the Snapdragon 480 chip for use in $ 250 devices and several device manufacturers, including Oppo, HMD and OnePlus, that are already committed to us Devices that use the chip, the Snapdragon 480 is about to be a very important piece of silicon.
This is doubly true for the United States, since, unlike other countries such as China, which rely heavily on the sub-6GHz spectrum for the first deployment of 5G, the major US airlines (especially Verizon and AT&T) have they have also invested a lot of resources in creating their 5W mmWave spectrum. This means that in the United States, it will be increasingly critical to have devices in all price ranges that can support sub-6Ghz and mmWave 5G, especially as we move toward the end of the year and into 2022, when operators will begin converting part of their old 3G networks in newer and faster 5G coverage.