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Qualcomm today announced the latest Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 Mobile platforms. The new chips provide advanced technologies that address the next-generation midranger and mass-volume devices on the market. The new chips have better ISPs, support for the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI engine, and up to 40% higher graphics performance.

The new chips also follow Qualcomm’s new naming scheme and are easier to follow. The new chips join the already existing Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. Qualcomm is on a roll as it updates most of its existing lineup with new branding and improved specifications and features.

Availability

LI Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 phones

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 will be commercially available to devices in the first quarter of 2023. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 will be able to provide multi-day battery life and upgraded performance. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 will be commercially available in new devices from the third quarter of 2022.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 1

LI Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip

The new Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC replaces the previous 6-generation series of chips, and will have the part number SM6450. These were often classified as midrangers and often found in devices costing $300-$500.

Connectivity-wise, the new Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 supports both 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, and Wi-Fi 6E, as well as Bluetooth 5.2 with dual antennas. The chip has an improved Qualcomm Spectra tripe 12-bit ISP that enables simultaneous capture and parallel processing and smooth zooming between cameras. As a result of the new ISP, the camera will see a lot of improvements in low-light conditions.

Qualcomm says that the Adreno GPU will provide up to 35% improved performance, while the CPU will see a 40% improved performance. The new chip also supports an FHD+ 120Hz display panel, and we could see better and more powerful gaming devices shortly with features that were only seen in high-end devices in the past.

The chip also uses the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine with the always-on 3rd Gen Qualcomm Sensing Hub. This provides up to 3x improved AI performance, and the new Fused Accelerator can provide a better and faster performance and promises a longer battery life. There are various other improvements done to AI-based noise cancellation, noise reduction, and contextual detection to improve the performance.

Snapdragon 4 Gen 1

LI Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 Badge

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 replaced the previous 4-generation series of chips, and it’s classified as a midrange and low-end chipset in more affordable, budget devices.

Qualcomm says that the new CPU delivers up to 15% improved performance, and the new GPU provides up to 10% improved performance. The new SoC also supports the Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology that can juice up devices from 0-50% in just 15 minutes, and it also supports the USB Power Delivery (PD) standard. Like the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 supports displays up to FHD+ at 120Hz.

The new Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chip supports 5G, sub-6 GHz, and Wi-Fi 5, as well as Bluetooth 5.2. While we would have been happy to see some support for mmWave and Wi-Fi 6 at the very least, it’s worth keeping in mind that this chip is budget oriented. It cuts down on niche features, and replaces them with something more affordable to prevent the increase of future budget-oriented devices. The modem is relatively speedy and has an uplink of 900 Mbps and up to 2.5 Gbps downlink, which should provide excellent speeds when using 5G.

The new chip also has a Qualcomm Spectra Triple ISP that enables simultaneous capture. The new ISP can snap up to 108MP photos and has improved performance to capture better photos in all lighting environments.

Overall, we’re pretty happy with what we see in the new Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and the new Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chipsets, and Qualcomm appears to have made some small, but welcome improvements. The CPU and GPUs have received a welcome boost, and the new ISP should improve the captured image quality quite a bit. AI processing is faster and more efficient, and we look forward to getting our hands on the new Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 equipped devices.