Qualcomm Debuts Snapdragon 670 SoC For Mid-Range Android Phone Domination

When it comes to the SoC layout, the Snapdragon 670 actually looks a lot more like the Snapdragon 710 than it does its Snapdragon 660 predecessor. In fact, both the Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 710 features two "big" Kryo 360 cores along with six "LITTLE' Kryo 360 cores. The only difference is that the Snapdragon 670 has its big cores clocked at a slightly lower 2GHz instead of 2.2GHz. The little cores on both SoCs are clocked at 1.7GHz.

Whereas the Snapdragon 710 uses an Adreno 616 GPU, the Snapdragon 670 gets onboard with an Adreno 615. Both SoCs are based on a 10nm LPP processor and for all intents and purposes, it appears that the Snapdragon 670 is simply a binned Snapdragon 710. We don't know if this is indeed the case, but it seems likely.

The only other big change between the two SoCs is that the Snapdragon 710 uses a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem (max downloads of 800Mbps), while the newly announced Snapdragon 670 uses Snapdragon X12 (max downloads of 600Mbps), which lacks 4x4 MIMO.

If vendors want to use a single camera on their smartphones, the Spectra 250 ISP can support up to a 25MP sensor. If dual cameras are used, the sensors are limited to 16MP each (compared to 32MP and 20MP respectively for the Snapdragon 710). It should also be noted that the Snapdragon 670 is rocking Qualcomm's third-generation AI engine, which promises up to a 1.8x uplift in performance compared to its predecessor.

Smartphone vendors currently have access to the Snapdragon 670, and phones will begin shipping with the SoC later this year.