Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 865 Plus

Qualcomm is delivering an overclocked version of its Snapdragon 865 mobile SoC for devices that hardware makers will introduce in late 2020.

“As we work to scale 5G, we continue to invest in our premium tier, 8-series mobile platforms, to push the envelope in terms of performance and power efficiency and deliver the next generation of camera, AI and gaming experiences,” Qualcomm senior vice president Alex Katouzian is quoted as saying in a comma-heavy quote. “Building upon the success of Snapdragon 865, the new Snapdragon 865 Plus will deliver enhanced performance for the next wave of flagship smartphones.”

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Thanks to its integrated Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System, the Snapdragon 865 Plus will deliver what Qualcomm calls “truly global 5G” capabilities. It will also include the 5th-generation Qualcomm AI Engine for “seamless camera, audio, and gaming experiences.”

But the real pull here is performance: The Snapdragon 865 Plus is aimed at flagship handsets, including those geared to gamers, and the firm says it will deliver desktop-quality gaming, updateable GPU drivers, desktop-forward rendering, ultra-smooth 5G gameplay at speeds of up to 144 fps, and True 10-bit HDR gaming for cinematic detail.

Compared to its predecessor, the 865 Plus is 10 percent faster with a core clock speed of up to 3.1 GHz and an Adreno 650 GPU, and it’s compatible with Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Wi-Fi for speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps.

ASUS and Lenovo are mentioned in the Qualcomm announcement, and we know that the Samsung flagships coming in August will also be based on the Snapdragon 865 Plus. Or as Qualcomm puts it, the first commercial devices based on Snapdragon 865 Plus are expected to be announced in the third quarter of 2020.

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Conversation 14 comments

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    08 July, 2020 - 11:19 am

    <p><img src="https://rwwpsa.dm.files.1drv.com/y4mTld8giWKg-kqMrnjjGXcn0yQVIEW90CRMPh1cGDL4sjgUOOUPx_fr_osbWhHbJVaWvvjXyT6rCY-eIgWezvNzSlbYPCjyN2HlLUiiFs67T8O9u06-hsTQkj-FdtbEqjpPeKXzrQQUTkBM0fHYHLSvm_YbKvjPjRTpfZj6iRIjaNBEaGcEBtPiXHpqhZQswTdUghuLrMjGtKv5h2pJKuw9E330arCYmzJl0BDHbJuRSM/natalie%20gif.gif?psid=1"></p><p>That's really cute!</p><p><br></p><p>Never let it be known that Qualcomm ever gives up. No matter how mediocre their overpriced product is, they have one that's just as lame coming out later this year. "10% faster!"</p><p><br></p><p>Meanwhile everyone else is either more performant or cheaper. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      08 July, 2020 - 12:06 pm

      What are the Snapdragon alternatives that are cheaper and faster?

      • jimchamplin

        Premium Member
        08 July, 2020 - 12:27 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#552846">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Fair question. I didn't necessarily mean alternatives, and should have said so. Apple's A-series is more performant. Chips from MediaTek, Allwinner,<em> et al</em>, are cheaper and <em>are </em>alternatives. Samsung's Exynos line seems to be roughly equal to Qualcomm's offerings.</p><p><br></p><p>Your question did make me check some benchmarks, and the 865 does pretty well vs the A13. By pretty well, I mean impressively well. Good showing on that one. It might be time to eat some crow here, so I'm gonna make a store run for extra horseradish.</p>

        • wright_is

          Premium Member
          09 July, 2020 - 4:43 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#552849">In reply to jimchamplin:</a></em></blockquote><p>Huawei's Kirin as well. They are all in the same ballpark, for each generation.</p><p>I haven't had a Qualcomm based smartphone since I dumped my Lumia 950. My previous 2 phones were Kirin based and I currently have an Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S20+. None of them have been wanting in the performance stakes.</p>

  • SvenJ

    08 July, 2020 - 11:26 am

    <p>Seriously? There are flagship handsets geared to gamers? Are there phone gamer tournaments too? Are there people sitting in their basements playing Call of Duty, WoW, on 5" screens with their thumbs?</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      08 July, 2020 - 11:30 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#552831">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>Oh heck no! They're playing mobile copycats of CoD and WoW! :D</p><p><br></p><p>In all seriousness, there are some very popular mobile franchises, but all of the discussion I've seen about "gaming" phones like those are in regards to emulation. Some of them play PS2-era games relatively well, and some do quite nicely with PS Vita and 3DS games.</p><p><br></p><p>Oh. And of course Fortnite.</p>

  • glenn8878

    08 July, 2020 - 1:53 pm

    <p>Good news and maybe someday they will put out a comparable x86 Core i7 CPU as long as Windows apps can be ported. Not looking for anytime soon.</p>

  • tghallin

    Premium Member
    08 July, 2020 - 5:19 pm

    <p>Is this the first Qualcomm device that has the 5g integrated on the chip? I know earlier versions had a separate 5g modem chip. This time they say "… SoC" and not "… platform" If so, that is the key to the plus.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      09 July, 2020 - 8:37 am

      To be clear, I don’t know. But there is no way that the Plus is that different. I bet it’s exactly the same die, just overclocked.

  • Rycott

    Premium Member
    08 July, 2020 - 10:34 pm

    <p>I'm always amused by the 'Desktop-Quality Gaming' comments. That's a pretty random comparison considering desktop PCs can range from some cheap $400 PC that can't play games at all to some $5000 beast that eats 4k gaming for breakfast.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      09 July, 2020 - 8:33 am

      If you haven’t seen a modern 3D game on mobile, you’re about to have an eye-opening experience.

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