Qualcomm yesterday announced it is introducing the newest 5G chip in its series aimed at cheap smartphones.
The new chip called snapdragon 690 marks the first time Qualcomm is making a 5G offer towards the lower-end of its smartphone chip lineup. The company has had 5G modems for premium smartphones since 2016 though they were not incorporated in devices until a few years later and it followed up with processors for mid-range devices late last year. Those devices haven’t come cheap.
Some of the devices like the Galaxy S10 5G introduced last year cost $1,299, while the regular S10 started at $900. Newer 5G premium phones are slightly less expensive (the Galaxy S20 from earlier this year starts at $999), but they’re still not accessible to everyone. Qualcomm’s 7-series chips, arriving in phones this year, will bring down costs a lot, but it’s the 6-series that gets into what many people dub inexpensive.
Devices with the Snapdragon 690 will cost in the range of $300 to $500 when they launch later this year, and they will include some features normally found only in premium devices. The Snapdragon 690 will appear in cheaper phones from companies like Nokia handset maker HMD, LG, Motorola, Sharp, and TCL, which sells phones under Alcatel and TCL branding.
Deepu John, senior director of product management at Qualcomm in a briefing with reporters said, “We want to bring more flagship experiences … to billions — things like immersive camera experiences, intensive and interactive gaming, [and] fast responding AI voice assistants.”
Talking about features, the Snapdragon 690 includes 4K HDR support to capture more than a billion shades of color and shoot photos at up to 192 megapixels. It also supports 120Hz displays for fast refresh rates and smooth scrolling. The Snapdragon 690 comes with Qualcomm’s latest AI engine for smart cameras, voice translation, AI-based imaging, and AI-enhanced gaming.
The processor also packs in Qualcomm’s new X51 5G modem, which delivers multigigabit speeds. The modem can download data at up to 2.5Gbps over 5G networks and 1.2Gbps over 4G LTE. And its upload speed peaks at 660Mbps over 5G and 210Mbps over LTE.
It only supports one flavor of 5G, though. The X51 runs only on lower-band airwaves, not the ultra-fast millimeter-wave network favored by carriers like Verizon. Those lower bands have been favored in places like China and Europe, as well as by US carriers like T-Mobile.
“There’s absolutely no doubt in our commitment to millimeter-wave and making it ubiquitous,” Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management, said during a briefing with reporters. “It’s all a function of timing … and prioritization right now.”
