Qualcomm just revealed initial details around the Snapdragon 865 Plus. Like the 855 Plus before it, the upcoming chip represents a mid-year performance boost to the company’s mobile flagship. Think of it as a kind of halfway refresh between major updates designed to keep things fresh in the back half of the year.
The top line updates here including performance enhancements to the CPU (Kryo 585 Prime) and GPU (Adreno 650), which offer 10% increases in clock speed and graphics rendering, respectively. The familiar X55 5G Modem-RF System is on-board, to deliver on the chipmaker’s push toward universal next-gen wireless adoption. That’s coupled with improvements to Wi-Fi connectivity, with the promise of speed up to 3.6 Gbps by way of the FastConnect 6900.
Both Asus and Lenovo get some face time in the press release. Asus says its ROG Phone 3 will sport the chips with more details in the coming weeks. If it is, indeed, the first smartphone to get the chip, it’s not exactly a high profile launch. That said, the current 865 is on more than 140 current or announced devices according to Qualcomm, so the Plus will no doubt be making its way to some higher-profile names in the not so distant future. Asus is expected to offer up more detail at a July 22 event.
The Lenovo device is an even more interesting addition. The company is widely expected to add a new gaming handset to its Legion line, and it seems it will be sporting the new chip.
“Three years after the launch of the Lenovo Legion PC portfolio, we’re bringing our beloved gaming sub-brand’s core values of speed and powerful performance to 5G mobile gaming – where Lenovo Legion will be amongst the first to offer the new Snapdragon 865 Plus in our expanding family of gaming devices this year,” VP Jerry Tsao said in a release. That’s certainly in line with Qualcomm’s increased focus on mobile gaming this time out. For that reason alone, the partnership seems like a no-brainer.
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 20 is also rumored to be receiving the upgrade, as well. That device is expected to be announced at an event on August 5. The first devices sporting the 865 Plus are due to arrive in Q3.