Qualcomm is reportedly working on its next-gen flagship mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 845. Successor to the existing Snapdragon 835 SoC, the new chipset is expected to be announced by the end of this year. The new chipset is expected to bring performance improvements along with battery life efficiency.

According to a leaked invite spotted on Weibo (via mysmartprice), the Snapdragon 845 SoC will be announced at the Snapdragon Technology Summit in Maui, Hawaii. The event is set to take place between December 4-8, and it is likely that the chipset will be announced on the very first day, the report states. 

The Snapdragon 835 SoC was unveiled at CES 2017 in January, whereas its successor is expected to be announced a month earlier. Rumors also claim that Samsung will be manufacturing the chipsets, and it already has dibs on the first production batch for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones. 

Even as earlier rumors hinted that the new chipset will be made on 7nm process, the next-gen chipset is expected to be manufactured on the same 10nm FinFET process as the Snapdragon 835 SoC. However, instead of custom Kryo cores, the next-gen chipset is expected to see a shift to four ARM Cortex A75 cores, along with four Cortex A53 cores. In terms of graphics, the Snapdragon 845 SoC could be paired with Adreno 630 GPU. 

On the connectivity front, the Snapdragon 845 SoC is rumored to ship with X20 modem with support for download speeds up to 1.2Gbps. Qualcomm has also been focusing on its Spectra ISP for improved low-light photography, and camera with zero shutter lag. With competitors such as Huawei adding Artificial Intelligence in its Kirin chipsets, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Qualcomm also does the same with the new Snapdragon 845 SoC. Rest of the details are scarce at the moment, but we are not likely to see devices running on the Snapdragon 845 SoC until first half of 2018. 

Vivo has been long rumored to be launching a new phone called, Xplay 7. The smartphone’s USP is said to be an under-display fingerprint sensing technology developed by Qualcomm. Now, the smartphone has been spotted on Weibo, which reveals what the upcoming smartphone will look like.

The first thing that the renders reveal is that the Vivo Xplay 7 will be available in black, gold and pink colors. The leaked images show the smartphone flaunting a bezel-less full-screen design. Leaks suggest that the smartphone could boast nearly 100 percent screen-to-body ratio. At the top of the display, you can spot two cutouts which can either be dual-selfie cameras or a selfie camera and a sensor. At the back, the Vivo Xplay 7 is seen featuring a dual-camera setup at the center of the device. Two antenna lines can be seen passing through the top and bottom of the device.

As mentioned, the under-display fingerprint scanner will be the upcoming smartphone’s USP. This technology was introduced by Vivo earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, Shanghai. This tech is based on Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensors. It eliminates the need for a dedicated fingerprint scanner to unlock or authenticate. The sensor is such that it is placed underneath the display. 

In terms of specifications, rumors hint at a 6-inch edge-to-edge display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. It is also speculated that the phone will be available in two variants – 128GB and 256GB, both will be paired with 8GB of RAM. The dual-camera setup at the back is expected to include a combination of 12-megapixel + 8-megapixel snappers with LED flash. Rumors also suggest that the phone will come with a Sony IMX401 sensors that will support for 4x optical zoom. Keeping the phone ticking will be a 4,000mAh battery. On the software front, the phone is expected to run on Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box.

Just yesterday, chipmaker Qualcomm launched the new Snapdragon 636 chipset, aimed to power mid-range smartphones. Now, reports suggest that upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 may be the first smartphone to be powered by the new chipset.

According to a post on Weibo (via GizmoChina), Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 will be the first smartphone to feature the Snapdragon 636 processor. The rumor makes sense since the chipset officially brings support for full HD 18:9 displays, running at a resolution of 2160×1080 pixels, and the Redmi Note 5 is rumoured to feature a display just like that. Since the chipset is scheduled to start shipping from next month, it can be anticipated that the Redmi Note 5 might launch near the end of the year or early 2018.

Built on 14nm process, Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC is up to 40 percent faster than Snapdragon 630. With 64-bit architecture, the new chipset features eight Kryo 260 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It is definitely an upgrade over Snapdragon 630 that runs eight ARM Cortex A53 cores at 2.2GHz. With support for up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM, the Snapdragon 636 chipset is backed with an upgraded Adreno 509 GPU, which the chipmaker claims to improve browsing and gaming performance by 10 percent. 

As for the Redmi Note 5, there is no solid information, but the rumors are there in abundance. A very recent leaked photo of what is believed to be the Redmi Note 5 showed the device sporting an 18:9 aspect ratio display (expected to measure 5.5-inch), with almost bezel-less design and no home button. The smartphone is believed to sport a pair of 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors at the rear. Up front, the Redmi Note 5 is said to come with a 12-megapixel sensor. 

At the 4G/5G summit in Hong Kong, chipmaker Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon 636 SoC for mid-range smartphones. An upgrade over Snapdragon 630 SoC that was launched earlier this year in May, the new chipset brings significant improvements across areas such as performance, gaming and displays.

“The introduction of the Snapdragon 636 Mobile Platform allows OEMs to enjoy a smooth transition from the Snapdragon 660 and 630 Mobile Platforms while supporting the deployment of superior functionality and performance to end users,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. 

Built on 14nm process, Qualcomm says that Snapdragon 636 SoC is 40 percent faster than Snapdragon 630. With 64-bit architecture, the new chipset features eight Kryo 260 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It is definitely an upgrade over Snapdragon 630 that runs eight ARM Cortex A53 cores at 2.2GHz. With support for up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM, the Snapdragon 636 chipset is backed with an upgraded Adreno 509 GPU, which the chipmaker claims to improve browsing and gaming performance by 10 percent. 

If you look at most flagship smartphones these days, you’ll notice that most of them now flaunt ultra-wide edge-to-edge displays. The Snapdragon 636 officially brings support for full HD 18:9 displays, running at a resolution of 2160×1080 pixels. It also comes with support for Assertive Display technology that optimizes the display visibility to improve readability in all lighting conditions. 

Smartphone camera technology has improved over the years, and the new chipset comes with Qualcomm Spectra 160 image sensor processing and Clear Sight camera features. It also supports camera resolutions up to 24-megapixels with zero shutter lag. The chipset also comes with support for 4K UHD video capture (30fps), and full HD video capture (120fps).

“Manufacturers can use the same modem and camera architecture to enable fast and efficient testing and calibration, cutting down on significant resources or time normally required when developing products on brand new platforms,” Kondap added. 

In terms of connectivity, Snapdragon 636 supports dual-SIM 4G LTE with VoLTE HD voice calling, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and Snapdragon X12 4G LTE modem, with peak download speeds of up to 600Mbps. With the chipset, you also set support for Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec for Hi-Fi audio on the go (up to 192kHz/24bit support). Lastly, Snapdragon 636 also supports Quick Charge 4.0, and USB 3.1 connectivity. Qualcomm expects to ship the chipsets to manufacturers by November, and we are likely to see smartphones powered by the chipset in late 2017 or early 2018.

{BGR}

Qualcomm, at the 4G/5G summit in Hong Kong, announced the new Snapdragon 636 SoC for mid-range smartphones. The company claims is that the new chipset is 40 percent faster than the Snapdragon 630 SoC that was announced earlier this year. Qualcomm also announced that it has successfully tested a 5G data connection on its Snapdragon X50 5G modem chipset.

“Achieving the world’s first announced 5G data connection with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem chipset on 28GHz mmWave spectrum is truly a testament to Qualcomm Technologies’ leadership in 5G and extensive expertise in mobile connectivity. This major milestone and our 5G smartphone reference design showcase how Qualcomm Technologies is driving 5G NR in mobile devices to enhance mobile broadband experiences for consumers around the world,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and president, QCT. 

Qualcomm conducted the demonstration in its San Diego labs, and has also released a video. In the test, the new Snapdragon X50 5G modem chipset was able to achieve speeds of up to 1 gigabit (or 1,000 megabits) per second. This speed is many times faster compared to the current 4G LTE wireless networks on today’s smartphones. In the battle of next-gen mobile broadband, the high-speed 5G data will help Qualcomm up the ante against rivals such as Huawei and Intel. 

Now that the testing is successful, Qualcomm expects the commercial launch of 5G network and smartphones to begin starting first half of 2019. Sure, the launch timeline seems aggressive than many in the wireless industry would have envisioned. However, credit for the same goes to the changes announced by 3GPP, the body that governs cellular networks such as 5G. 

Besides announcing the successful test of 5G data connection, Qualcomm also announced its first mmWave 5G smartphone reference design, which will allow the chipmaker to test and optimize the 5G mmWave performance.

{BGR}