Snapdragon SoC guide: All of Qualcomm's smartphone processors explained

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors are among the most ubiquitous SoCs in the Android smartphone space. Samsung uses Snapdragon for its Galaxy S line in various markets, and it also powers devices from Xiaomi, OnePlus, and essentially every manufacturer making flagship phones that doesn’t also make its own silicon. There’s a high chance that you’re reading this on a device using a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor right now.

Snapdragon chips aren’t just found in expensive flagship smartphones though. There’s a whole portfolio of processors built for handsets at various price points. Performance and features differ a fair bit between these models, so let’s break down how the company’s latest SoCs compare and what capabilities you should expect.

Snapdragon 8 series — Premium tier

Looking for the very best Qualcomm smartphone processor? That will be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 series, which powers plenty of high-end phones in 2022 such as the Xiaomi 12 series, Galaxy S22 family, and OnePlus 10T. It’s indeed part of the Snapdragon 8 series which is Qualcomm’s most powerful smartphone chipset family.

This latest generation of flagship chipsets consists of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. The former was launched in December 2021 and powered many high-end phones in the first half of 2022. Meanwhile, the Plus processor was launched in May 2022 and powers several flagship phones launched in the second half of the year.

The two processors make for pretty solid upgrades over last year’s Snapdragon 888 series on paper. Both offer 4nm designs featuring a powerful octa-core CPU (1x Cortex-X2, 3x Cortex-A710, 4x Cortex-A510), beefy Adreno 730 GPU, and an integrated Snapdragon X65 modem that tops out at 10Gbps.

Both of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 series chipsets also offer impressive multimedia features such as 8K HDR recording, 200MP single camera support, 36MP triple camera support, and 960fps unlimited slow-mo recording. Other notable features include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and Quick Charge 5.

The Plus chipset stands out from the vanilla variant as it’s made on the superior 4nm TSMC process compared to the standard chipset being produced on Samsung’s 4nm process. This switch allowed Qualcomm to crank up the maximum CPU clock speed to 3.2GHz and offer 10% better graphics performance. Best of all, the chipmaker also touts a 30% efficiency boost over the standard 8 Gen 1. We indeed found that the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 offers better results in both one-off benchmarks and stress tests

Tested: Should you buy a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 smartphone?

The previous flagship chip family was 2021’s Snapdragon 888 and 888 Plus. This series is still very powerful, packing a healthy level of CPU power, for one. The package includes a Cortex-X1 core for heavy lifting, three Cortex-A78 cores, and four Cortex-A55 cores. The Plus variant differs by offering a Cortex-X1 with a slight clock speed boost. Otherwise, you’re also getting a powerful GPU, an integrated and full-featured 5G modem, and plenty of multimedia features (e.g. 8K recording, 960fps slow-mo, .

The Snapdragon 888 and 888 Plus aren’t the only Snapdragon 8 series processors available, as Qualcomm also launched the Snapdragon 870 and Snapdragon 860 in 2021. These two chips are based on 2020 and 2019’s flagship silicon respectively. The 5G-toting 870 in particular is still a fantastic performer, but the newest mid-range processors have surpassed the 4G-only Snapdragon 860.

Expect to find the Snapdragon 870 chipset in upper mid-range to affordable flagship-type devices. Otherwise, the Snapdragon 860 is a step below the 870, with the mid-range Poco X3 Pro and Xiaomi Pad 5 using it.

Qualcomm recently acquired CPU company Nuvia, and revealed that it will be using Nuvia’s CPU tech in laptops, flagship phones, and more. So expect flagship Snapdragon chipsets with custom CPUs in the next few years.

The San Diego company has also invested heavily in other bits of silicon for its chipsets, such as the GPUs, modems, and image signal processors for cameras. The chipmaker has been developing its machine learning silicon over the years too, boosting features like face recognition, scene/subject/object recognition, natural language processing, video, and more.

Qualcomm isn’t the only company making flagship processors for smartphones. Other high-end chipsets include the Samsung Exynos 2200, the Google Tensor G2 (itself designed by Samsung) and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 series. The Snapdragon 8 range is generally considered the top dog among the four in terms of features, and capabilities, although it trades blows with both Samsung and Mediatek’s flagship chips.

Notable Snapdragon 8 series phones

• Asus ROG Phone 6
• OnePlus 10 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy S22 series
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
• Xiaomi 12 series

Snapdragon 7 series — Bridging the gap

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 series isn’t quite as straightforward as its flagship 8 series. This is due to the sheer number of them, as well as the lower-end chips crossing into the 6 series. The Snapdragon 7 series is essentially an upper mid-range family of processors and the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 is the most capable and recent entry.

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 blurs the lines between mid-range and flagship capabilities, starting with the CPU. Expect an octa-core setup here, featuring four powerful Cortex-A710 cores and four Cortex-A510 cores. Qualcomm says the new chipset also boasts a 20% boost in GPU power over the Snapdragon 778G and 30% improvement in machine learning performance. Other notable features include 200MP camera support, 4K HDR recording, and a 4nm design.

Next on the totem pole is the Snapdragon 780G. Released early in 2021, the 780G has the same 5nm design as the Snapdragon 888 as well as a triple-tiered CPU design. You’re looking at one Cortex-A78 CPU clocked at 2.4GHz, three Cortex-A78 CPUs clocked at 2.2GHz, and four Cortex-A55 CPU cores. In other words, you’ve got enough CPU power to take it to older flagship processors.

The Snapdragon 780G also delivered an Adreno 642 GPU that’s said to offer performance in line with slightly older flagships. In fact, Anandtech reported that it offered better graphical performance than Snapdragon 855 phones, although it falls behind 2020’s Snapdragon 865 devices. That’s still a major leap forward for Qualcomm’s mid-range processors, which have usually lagged far behind even the company’s older flagship chipsets in this area.

We haven’t seen this chipset in many processors, unfortunately. But that’s where the Snapdragon 778G series comes in. This series offers the same CPU cores, an Adreno 642L GPU, and a 6nm manufacturing design (compared to the 780G’s 5nm design). The company also told us at the time of the 778G’s launch that it was using a different foundry to make these chips, presumably to get around the industry-wide chip shortage.

Qualcomm also launched the Snapdragon 778G Plus in late 2021, but the upgrades here are extremely minor (such as a 100MHz CPU clock speed boost).

Going down the list, we’ve got the Snapdragon 765 series, 750G, and 768G, being the firm’s first mid-range 5G processor family. The Snapdragon 765G in particular saw plenty of adoption among mid-range phones and it even powered two flagship phones (LG Velvet and Google Pixel 5). But all of these processors have been surpassed by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, Snapdragon 780G, and Snapdragon 778G series.

These chipsets nevertheless sport comprehensive 5G capabilities, 7nm or 8nm designs, a 1+1+6 CPU layout, and respectable graphical grunt. The 750G actually features newer CPU cores though, which should theoretically give it a slight boost on paper over its stablemates. But this comes at the expense of graphical performance, machine learning power, and camera capabilities compared to the 765 and 768G chips.

Notable Snapdragon 7 series phones

• Google Pixel 5
• Motorola Edge 30
• Nothing Phone 1
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro

Snapdragon 6 series — Value for money

Where the Snapdragon 7 series tries to bridge the gap between mid-range and flagship, the Snapdragon 6 series is mostly focused on the ~$300 and under segment. And the latest processor in this family is the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1.

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is a huge step up from previous Snapdragon 6 series SoCs, offering a powerful CPU (4x Cortex-A78, 4x Cortex-A55) and an improved Adreno GPU. In fact, Qualcomm claims a 40% and 35% performance boost over the Snapdragon 695’s CPU and GPU respectively. Other notable features include a 4nm design, 200MP snapshot support, and 4K video capture.

The previous top-end processor in this series was the Snapdragon 695, being an incremental upgrade over 2020’s Snapdragon 690. The 695 brings a capable octa-core CPU (2x Cortex-A77 and 6x Cortex-A55), and an Adreno 619 GPU seen in the Snapdragon 750G. We also get 13MP triple camera support, 108MP single camera support, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. But the big disappointment here is that it lacks 4K video recording.

Qualcomm also launched the Snapdragon 680 at the same time as the 695, and this chip stands out from the above entries by being a 4G-only SoC. It seems to be derived from the older, budget Snapdragon 665 SoC, sharing features like old CPU cores (four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53), the Adreno 610 GPU, Hexagon 686 DSP, and Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging. There are a couple of upgrades though, namely a much smaller 6nm manufacturing process and Bluetooth 5.1 support.

Notable Snapdragon 6 series phones

• Poco X4 Pro
• Redmi Note 11
• Samsung Galaxy A23
• Sony Xperia 10 IV

Snapdragon 4 series — Entry-level

Now we come to the least capable Snapdragon series (aside from the dormant Snapdragon 200 family), designed for entry-level smartphones. But there’s good news here, as the latest Snapdragon 4 chipset is actually a massive improvement.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 offers a 6nm design, a pretty capable CPU (2x Cortex-A78, 6x Cortex-A55), and a 10% faster GPU than the earlier Snapdragon 480. Otherwise, this SoC has quite a few things in common with the Snapdragon 695. We’ve got the same X51 5G modem, similar camera capabilities (no 4K recording here), 120Hz support at FHD+ display resolution, and Wi-Fi 5.

Go down a notch and we’ve got the Snapdragon 480. This was the first 5G-enabled processor in the Snapdragon 4 series, being announced in early 2021. This is essentially a cut-back Snapdragon 750G chipset, featuring mmWave 5G support, the same Adreno 619 GPU, the same 8nm manufacturing process, Quick Charge 4 Plus tech, and support for FHD+ 120Hz displays.

We do see a few compromises though, such as older CPU cores (2x Cortex-A76 and 6x Cortex-A55), less impressive camera capabilities (no 4K recording, 64MP snapshot support), and slower 5G speeds. Still, this was a major upgrade for the 4 series, which lacked more modern CPUs and 5G capabilities.

The Snapdragon 480 was succeeded by the Snapdragon 480 Plus in late 2021, but this is a mild upgrade at best rather than a major step up.

The 4G-toting Snapdragon 460 was the top dog until the 480 came out, and it has a lot in common with the Snapdragon 662. This includes old but still respectable CPU cores (four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53), the same GPU, HEIF support, Bluetooth 5.1, and even 48MP multi-frame capture capabilities.

Notable Snapdragon 4 series phones

• Iqoo Z6 Lite
• Motorola Moto G62
• OnePlus Nord N100
• Nokia XR20

That’s all for our Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC guide! Let us know your thoughts on the silicon giant’s portfolio in the comments. You can also check out our article charting the history of the Snapdragon 8 family over here.