Qualcomm continues to advance its mission of increasing adoption of 5G and make this technology accessible to the masses. The Snapdragon 765 5G, announced at the end of 2019, was the first step in this direction. And now, the first 5-series 600G chipset, Snapdragon 690 5G, has made its online debut with Qualcomm's promise to release the Snapdragon 600 and 700 chipsets with 5G support last year.
With the announcement of the Snapdragon 690 5G, Qualcomm aims to bring 5G to even lower price levels. This chipset can be seen as a successor to the Snapdragon 675, which can be found in the Redmi Note 7 Pro from early last year.
Snapdragon 690 5G: specifications and features
Starting with the basics, the Snapdragon 690 5G features a 560-bit Qualcomm Kryo 64 octa-core CPU with clock speeds of up to 2.0GHz. It is a new CPU with the Cortex-A77 cores that have previously only been used on board the Snapdragon 865.
This is only the second chipset in Qualcomm's portfolio to feature a Kryo 500-series core – the first being the Snapdragon 585 Kryo 865.
The company boasts that it offers up to 20% improvement in performance over its predecessor, which is ideal for mid-range users. Supports up to 8GB of 1866MHz RAM.
The chipset also includes a new Adreno 619L GPU on board, above the Adreno 618 GPU found in mid-range chipsets Snapdragon 720G and 730G. Qualcomm claims that it supports up to a power 60% faster graphics than its predecessor. This means he can expect gaming performance better than (or on par with) his older brother.
The highlight of the Snapdragon 690, well, is the 5G connectivity. Qualcomm has baked a new RF system, a Snapdragon X51 5G modem on this chipset. It supports independent (SA) and non-independent (NSA) networks, offering download speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 660Mbps. It supports most global bands and multi-SIM functionality, but lacks support for mmWave networks. The Snapdragon 690 only supports 5G sub-6GHz networks.
For quick reference, the Snapdragon X50 was the first 5G modem released by Qualcomm and was an optional upgrade on the Snapdragon 855 series. The Snapdragon X52 modem is built into the Snapdragon 765G. Therefore, Snapdragon X51 fits in the middle of the two.
Snapdragon 690 is the first Snapdragon 6 series mobile platform to support displays up to 120Hz.
Now, let's talk about the things that would interest you the most. The Snapdragon 690 5G supports up to 120Hz Full HD+ display with HDR10+, up to 192MP photo capture, true 4K HDR 10-bit video recording (thanks to Spectra 355L ISP on board) and slow motion videos at 720p at 240 FPS. The 5th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine and embedded Hexagon 692 enable smart cameras/videos and other AI voice features such as multiple voice assistants, far-field sensing, and more. The chipset is also compatible with the NavIC satellite navigation system.
When will the first Snapdragon 690 5G phone be released?
If you're planning to buy an affordable 5G phone, you'll need to wait a couple of months. Smartphones with Snapdragon 690 technology "Commercially available in the second half of 2020" according to Qualcomm.
The company's OEM partners like HMD Global, LG, Motorola and many others are already working on Snapdragon 690 powered devices. We can expect the Nokia 7.3 or the upcoming LG Velvet phone to be backed by this chipset.