Last year was significant for the mobile industry, as chip manufacturers such as MediaTek, Qualcomm and UNISOC announced 5G chipsets to help mobile phone manufacturers bring affordable 5G smartphones to the market. Expected to remain unchanged this year, Qualcomm has decided to take the lead with the new 5G chipset Snapdragon 480 5G.
Snapdragon 480 5G is not only an important chipset for Qualcomm, but also an important chipset for the entire mobile industry. The Snapdragon 400 series powers phones and tablets in the category of about $150, and with this new chipset, this means that we can expect 5G phones purchased for less than $150 to be available soon.
SNAPDRAGON 480 5G SPECS:
- Part number – SM4350
- Process – 8nm
- CPU – Kryo 460 octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz
- GPU – Adreno 619; OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, Open CL 2.0
- Modem – Snapdragon X51 5G with support for sub-6GHz and mmWave
- Wi-Fi – 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11ax-ready (Wi-Fi 6), 802.11ac Wave 2; 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands
- Bluetooth – Bluetooth 5.1
- Qualcomm FastConnect – Qualcomm FastConnect 6200
- Location – Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual-frequency GNSS, NavIC, GPS, GNSS, QZSS, SBAS
Snapdragon 480 5G is an 8nm eight-core processor. Moving from the 11nm model of Snapdragon 460 to a smaller node size will bring improvements in efficiency and power management. Qualcomm said that both the Kryo 460 CPU and Adreno 619 GPU are more than 100% higher than their predecessors.
The processor has a Snapdragon X51 5G modem that supports networks below 6Ghz and mmWave, as well as SA and NSA modes. The chipset also supports Wi-Fi 6, and has a connection speed of up to 9.6 Gbps. It also supports the WPA3 security protocol.
The Snapdragon 480 5G has a Spectra 345 image signal processor, which supports a single camera up to 64MP. The ISP allows all three (wide, ultra-wide and telephoto) cameras to be captured at the same time.
It also supports HEIF photo capture and HEVC video capture. The FHD+ display supporting 120Hz refresh rate and Qualcomm aptX audio means that users can enjoy a smooth gaming experience brought by high-quality audio.
Compared with the previous generation, the Hexagon 686 inside the processor improves AI performance by 70%. Last but not least, Qualcomm said that the chipset also supports Quick Charge 4+.
The official press release of the chipset shows that HMD Global, the current licensee of Nokia-branded smartphones, will announce a smartphone powered by the chipset.
Chinese manufacturers OPPO and OnePlus have also confirmed that they will launch phones with built-in Snapdragon 480 5G. The first Snapdragon 480 5G phones are expected to arrive early this year.
