Qualcomm enhances 7-series with Snapdragon 780G 5G mobile platform

Qualcomm Technologies has added the Snapdragon 780G 5G mobile platform to its 7-series portfolio, which is designed to allow smartphone manufacturers to differentiate products at a lower price point than was previously possible.

The 7-series platforms incorporate popular premium features, such as Qualcomm’s own artificial intelligence (AI) engine and advanced camera functionality. Featuring the new Qualcomm Spectra 570, Snapdragon 780G is the first 7-series platform with a triple image signal processor (ISP), capable of capturing from three cameras simultaneously, delivering three different images captured by zoom, wide and ultra-wide lenses at once.

This platform also boasts new low-light architecture, powering professional-quality photos in any lighting condition. Its 4K high dynamic range (HDR) with computational capture is said to provide dramatic improvements to colour, contrast and detail.

Backed by the Qualcomm Spectr 570 triple ISP and sixth-generation Qualcomm AI engine, this enables a selection of premium-tier features for the first time in the 7-series, making next-generation imaging and video experiences more broadly accessible, says the company.

The product is also based on the sixth-generation Qualcomm AI engine with the Qualcomm Hexagon 770 processor delivering up to 12 TOPs AI performance, which is said to be a 2x improvement compared with its predecessor. The result, says Qualcomm, is that virtually every connection, video call and phone call can be enhanced by AI to enable use cases such as AI-based noise suppression and better AI-based voice assistant interactions.

Snapdragon 780G also features an optimised Snapdragon X53 5G modem-RF system with peak download speeds of 3.3Gbps on sub-6GHz frequencies. This platform takes the premium Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth audio features offered on Snapdragon 888 to the 7-series, for the first time, including recently debuted Qualcomm Snapdragon sound technology.

Snapdragon 780G supports multi-gigabit Wi-Fi 6 speeds, up to 3.6Gbps, VR-class low latency and what Qualcomm calls “robust” capacity. With Wi-Fi 6E support, Snapdragon 780G can extend the feature set to the 6GHz spectrum as it gains momentum worldwide.

Commercial devices based on Snapdragon 780G are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2021.

Kedar Kondap, vice-president, product management at Qualcomm Technologies, said: “Since introducing the Snapdragon 7-series three years ago, more than 350 devices have launched based on 7-series mobile platforms. Today, we are continuing this momentum by introducing the Snapdragon 780G 5G mobile platform. Snapdragon 780G was designed to bring in-demand, premium experiences to more users around the world.”

The launch comes as the chip giant continues to prepare for its change in executive leadership, with Cristiano Amon succeeding Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, and aims to take advantage of opportunities in the 5G space by entering into a definitive agreement to acquire silicon design firm Nuvia.