Last year, Google took a risk by abandoning top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon chips for the Pixel 5. Instead, it opted for the mid-range Snapdragon 765G, which allowed the company to keep costs low while still providing 5G connectivity.
Assuming that Google has the same plan in place for the Pixel 6, we may have taken a first look at the SoC that will run the show. The Telegram channel, XiaomiUI (not affiliated with the electronics manufacturer, despite the name) leaked what appears to be a Qualcomm document outlining the top-line specifications of the Snapdragon 775.
Separately, the XDA Developers’ own sources confirmed the content of the leak, but added that the shared images are a little out of date. So while the general features of what follows are likely to be confirmed, there may be some changes to the finished chip.
The Snapdragon 775 and 775G (the G versions perform slightly better in games) will apparently be manufactured using a 5 nm process, improving the 7 nm approach adopted with the 765. This should mean stronger performance and greater efficiency for less battery consumption.
In addition, Snapdragon 775 chips are configured to support 3,200 MHz LPDDR5 or 2,400 MHz LPDDR4X and up to UFS 3.1 storage. The chip’s Spectra 570 ISP can apparently handle up to three 28MP cameras at the same time and will support 4K video recording at 60fps. As you would expect with a chipset to debut in 2021, mmWave 5G support is also integrated.
All of these are positive, but we will have to see how much faster the chip is compared to its predecessor to see if this is the home run that we expect. Devices using the Snapdragon 765 – such as the Pixel 5 and OnePlus Nord – received warm reviews from us in part because they seemed nimble and responsive in most tasks. Even though they weren’t technically as capable as devices equipped with Snapdragon 865, like the Samsung Galaxy S20 (let alone devices with Snapdragon 888 like the Galaxy S21), they seemed more than powerful enough for most people’s needs.
There is no reason to think that the same will not happen with the Snapdragon 775, which makes us optimistic about the state of mid-range devices in 2021. Hopefully, we will have a launch date and some price idea soon.