The main processor of a smartphone makes a huge difference in the capabilities offered by the high-end smartphones and the next lower segment whether you call it mid-segment or whatever name you assign. Manufacturers have been finding it difficult to add some features, like advanced application of AI technology in the camera function or fast charging in the mid-segment phones due to limitations in the CPU. Qualcomm has tried to address this issue by coming out with an all new chipset the Snapdragon 675 and is hopeful this processor will be a very powerful one.
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 675SoC will constitute an ecosystem that includes the octa-core processor itself (two cores of Cortex-A76 and six cores of Cortex-A55) and the Adreno 612 GPU. According to the company, the new chipset will show improved performance in the smartphones they come fitted with, in three distinct areas, the camera or photography, gaming experience and wider application of AI technology over the previous versions. From the overall perspective, a 30% enhancement can be witnessed over the Snapdragon 670 CPU.
The other significant enhancement one can expect would be in the fast charging of phones, where the new Quick Charge 4+ that came about a year back. This has already been applied in over 1000 different models of smartphones and the essence of this technology is to ensure the batteries can get charged 50% of their power capacity within 15 minutes. This is made feasible through a new battery sensing technology that directly measures the voltage of the battery cell and let the system provide an accurate view of the battery's current state to reduce charge times. Besides just phones, all other devices that need to be charged can benefit from this new technology.
To make games launch faster and to make the overall gaming experience a lot better on the mid-segment phones too, this new Qualcomm 675 processor has been built to offer additional supports, including 4K video playback support. Even the music and other audio effects in the games would now sound better. Besides many other changes and improvements, one gets to see Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo technology as well in the new chipset.
To beef up the imaging capability, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675SoC sports the Qualcomm Spectra 250L ISP for 14-bit image signal processing and cameras up to 48XP and single sensors up to 25MP will get smooth support. Smartphone makers can go up to providing 3 sensors in combination in the rear in their phones if they for the new processor from Qualcomm.
Support for voice activation with machine learning algorithms and the third-generation Qualcomm AI Engine are some of the features that come in handy to offer higher level of AI technology in the smartphones using the 675 chipset. One can use multiple voice assistants even, without worrying about the battery being drained.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC is ready to be supplied to the phone makers, but in all likelihood, one may get to see the first phones with the new processor in the first part of the new year 2019.