Qualcomm announced three additions to its mid-level Snapdragon lines, which are said to bring improved performance, graphics, battery life, more efficient designs and artificial intelligence (AI) to its best-selling chip tiers.

More than 1,350 commercial devices based on Snapdragon 600 and more than 2,300 on Snapdragon 400 have been announced by global device makers. The next-generation chips bring “big improvements to already successful and feature-rich platforms”, it said in a statement.

The company is also in the midst of updating its product line: a new Snapdragon 700 tier was announced in May 2018, intended to bring some premium features to lower-priced devices, and the company also boosted its always-connected PC efforts with Snapdragon 850.

Gaming and graphics
Joining the Snapdragon 600 line is Snapdragon 632, which brings “some of the most sought-after mobile experiences, including mainstream gaming, 4K video capture, artificial intelligence, and fast LTE speeds – all for an affordable price”. The chip offers up to 40 per cent higher performance due to its Kryo 250 CPU and Adreno 506 GPU, with its X9 LTE modem “supporting LTE Advanced technologies like carrier aggregation” and delivering peak speeds of 300Mb/s.

Snapdragon 632 also supports dual cameras at 13MP each or a single 24MP sensor, with screen resolutions “up to FHD+”.

And joining the Snapdragon 400 tier are Snapdragon 429 and Snapdragon 439, “created to help deliver popular mobile experiences for mass market, price-sensitive consumers”. Both are equipped with AI capabilities to enhance the camera, voice and security experience.

The chips improve CPU performance and power efficiency by up to 25 per cent and include the “established X6 LTE modem” which offers peak speeds of 150Mb/s along with dual SIM and VoLTE capabilities.

Snapdragon 439 has an octacore CPU and Adreno 505 GPU, with up to 20 per cent faster graphics rendering: Snapdragon 429 has a quadcore CPU and Adreno 504 GPU, for a “whopping 50 per cent” improvement in graphics rendering.

The Snapdragon 439 supports 21MP single or dual 8MP cameras with FHD+ display capabilities. Snapdragon 429 supports 16MP single or dual 8MP cameras, with HD+ screens.

Commercial devices using the silicon are expected to launch in the second half of this year.