Qualcomm added a new processor to its Snapdragon 600 line, targeting mainstream smartphones with features including artificial intelligence (AI), and upgrades to camera and multimedia capabilities.

The vendor said Snapdragon 670 also provides vendors with more freedom to add features and experiment with different device sizes than its previous generation processors: the product is the successor to Snapdragon 660.

Qualcomm said Snapdragon 670 uses the same digital signal processing (DSP) found in higher-tier platforms: Qualcomm Hexagon 685 DSP. It also integrated its third-generation AI Engine, improving performance by up to 1.8-times over the previous generation.

The new silicon includes Qualcomm’s Kryo 360 CPU, which marries two performance cores (up to 2.0GHz) with six efficiency cores (up to 1.7GHz) to deliver up to 15 per cent higher performance over its predecessor.

It is also the first in the Snapdragon 600 line to include the Spectra 250 ISP, which is said to enable “most of the premium camera features found in professional cameras, including noise reduction, image stabilisation and active depth sensing”. It supports a single camera of up to 25MP, or dual cameras at 16MP.

Also onboard is Qualcomm’s X12 LTE modem, offering peak download speeds of 600Mb/s and upload speeds of 150Mb/s.

Snapdragon 670 is currently available, with commercial devices expected “later this year”. It joins a number of other Snadragon chips unveiled this year, including 710, unveiled in May, and the 632, 439 and 429 announced in June.