Alongside the new flagship-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, the company also unveiled the Snapdragon 765 and Snapdragon 765G, which are both aimed at delivering premium features in a slightly more affordable chipset. The new chipset was unveiled at the annual Snapdragon Summit, which Qualcomm flew me out to.
Notably, the new chipsets offer many of the same features as the Snapdragon 865. You’ll get the company’s 5th-generation A.I. Engine, along with the new Qualcomm Sensing Hub, which allows the phone to be more contextually aware of its surroundings. The result? Your phone will be able to automatically detect when you’re doing things like driving, when you might be sleeping, and so on — and react accordingly.
Most of the features on offer, however, are slightly less powerful than the flagship chip. For example, it offers a Spectra 355 image signal processor, which is able to capture 4K video and 192-megapixel images, but not the 8K video and 200-megapixel images on offer by the Snapdragon 865. It also offers an Adreno 620 GPU, which should help deliver decent mobile gaming with physically based rendering — but not the much more realistic lighting and rendering on offer by the Snapdragon 865. They’re small trade-offs, to be sure, but still something to keep in mind.
Perhaps the biggest feature on offer by the Snapdragon 765 is the fact that it supports Qualcomm’s X52 modem, which offers 5G connectivity at a peak speed of up to 3.7Gbps. It supports multiple different forms of 5G too, including millimeter-wave and sub-6, so you should be covered no matter which U.S. carrier you’re on.
The Snapdragon 765G is also available, with a heavier emphasis on mobile gaming. Most of the specs of the chip are the same, but the Snapdragon 765G offers a number of Snapdragon Elite Gaming features that aren’t offered by the standard Snapdragon 765. According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 765G offers 20 percent faster graphics rendering compared to the standard Snapdragon 765, along with select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, like the “Game Network Latency Manager” and “Game Smoother.”
In general, the Snapdragon 765 and 765G look to offer pretty good performance in what will hopefully be much more affordable smartphones. That said, we haven’t seen 700-series chips show up in all that many smartphones, at least not in the U.S., so we’ll have to wait and see if the Snapdragon 765 ends up in many devices. Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 765 and 765G are expected to be commercially available in the first quarter of 2020.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.
Apple's next cheaper iPhone could get a brand-new processor while keeping its most stubborn display compromise. Digital Chat Station tips the iPhone 18e for a 2027 release with a 2nm A20 chip and a 6.12-inch OLED screen still limited to 60Hz.
The rumored camera setup includes a single 48MP rear camera and a possible 24MP selfie camera. There's new hardware to consider, but buyers hoping Apple would extend that upgrade generosity to smoother scrolling could be disappointed.