Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon 678 chipset as its latest addition to the 600 series of processors. The new chipset uses an octa-core configuration of Kryo 460 cores along with the Qualcomm Adreno 612 GPU. The Snapdragon 678 can be considered as a successor to the Snapdragon 675 launched a few years back, if we go by the numbering convention of the company. The newer chipset is not only better in terms of performance, but is also more power-efficient as per Qualcomm.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 – Specifications
The new Snapdragon 678 chipset by Qualcomm is an octa-core processor with two Kryo 460 cores based on ARM Cortex-A76, clocked at 2.2GHz along with six Cortex-A55 cores, again of Kryo 460 grade clocked at 2.0GHz. The chipset is fabricated on 11nm LPP process technology. The GPU present here is the Adreno 612, which is faster than its predecessor on the Snapdragon 675. It supports up to 8GB of RAM in a 2×16 bit configuration over 1866MHz.
The new Snapdragon 678 gets the Qualcomm Spectra 250L ISP that can drive a single rear camera up to 192MP with MFNR (Multi-frame Noise Reduction) and ZSL (Zero Shutter Lag). It can also get dual cameras of over 16MP and 48MP snapshots. It also consists of two 14bit ISPs for accelerated image stabilization, Hybrid Autofocus dual-phase detection (2PD) sensors. The chipset can also record videos in different encoding techniques at 4K 30fps.
The Snapdragon 678 can drive Full HD+ displays up to 60Hz, with support for external 4K displays as well with its Qualcomm Hexagon 685 DSP. The chipset has capabilities of 4K Ultra HD playback at 30fps, 4K UltraHD capture at 30fps, 1080p video capture at 120fps, 720p video capture at 240fps, H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), VP9, VP8, and more.
The connectivity on the Snapdragon 678 is handled by the same flagship-grade Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem with CAT 12/13 speeds of up to 600 Mbps for downloads using the 3x20MHz downlink. The maximum upload speeds are supported over 150Mbps using the 2X20MHz uplink. This chipset is only 4G enabled with dual SIM dual VoLTE (DSDV), Qualcomm All Mode with support for all major cellular modes plus LAA and LTE call continuity.
The charging standard of the Snapdragon 678 is Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ The chipset has now been officially announced by Qualcomm and will be available for all OEMs to implement in their devices. We can see devices with this new chipset starting from 2021.
