Qualcomm launches three new chipsets Snapdragon 632, 439, 429 at MWC Shanghai 2018

        Qualcomm has extended the list of its mid-range chipsets by adding three new chips which includes Snapdragon 632, Snapdragon 439 and Snapdragon 429. All three chips will focus on the budget to mid-range segment. One of the major changes made in the chipsets is their ability to process AI-related tasks. Qualcomm's 600-series and 400-series chips are the company's best-selling chips due to the value for money it offers.

        Qualcomm released the new products at the ongoing MWC Shanghai 2018. Apart from AI functionality, the new Qualcomm chips provide better performance and power efficiency when compared to their predecessors. The Snapdragon 632 will replace Snapdragon 626, the Snapdragon 439 will succeed Snapdragon 430 and the Snapdragon 429 will be replacing the Snapdragon 425 chipset.

        In terms of AI processing the new chips support Qualcomm's Neural Processing SDK. In real world usage this will help with changing styles and filters during live or real time videos. The new chips will be better at face detection, which will help incorporate face detection as an unlocking method. Other AI features will be text translation and object detection. One of the biggest enhancements to camera performance will be the ability to detect the subject and foreground which will yield bokeh pictures.

       Coming to the chipsets, the mid-range chip Snapdragon 632 comes with Kryo 250 semi-custom cores with four performance cores based on cortex-A73 and clocked up to 1.8GHz, and four efficiency cores based on cortex-A53 at the same frequency. The FinFET 14nm processor will help substantial gains in performance and power efficiency. According to Qualcomm, the new CPU has 40 per cent better performance when compared with its predecessor.

       In terms of GPU, the Snapdragon chip will come with Adreno 506 which is slated to increase graphics performance by 10 per cent in comparison to the GPU on Snapdragon 626. The chip also equips the X9 LTE modem for cat13 speeds of 300Mbps DL and 150Mbps UL. In terms of support for optics, this chip supports 24MP single or 13+13 dual camera setups. The chipset enables 4K video recording at 30 frames per second. The 632 chip will also support FullHD+ displays. The chipset does support for Quick Charge 4.0.

       The Snapdragon 400 series chip often power entry level smartphones but also outperform the sale of other chipsets in terms of volume. The Snapdragon 429 and Snapdragon 439 are 25 per cent better in terms of performance when compare to Snapdragon 425 and Snapdragon 430 respectively. The new chipsets  are built on 12nm FinFET process which will help extending the smartphone's battery life. The Snapdragon 429 comes with 8 cortex A53 cores in two clusters. The performance cores are clocked at 1.95GHz and the cores dedicated to power efficiency are clocked at 1.45GHz. The Snapdragon 429 has four A53 cores clocked at 1.95GHz.

        In terms of GPU, the Snapdragon 439 comes with Adreno 505 which is 20 per cent higher than the GPU on Snapdragon 430. The 429 chip uses Adreno 504 which is 50 per cent more powerful than the Adreno 308 in the Snapdragon 425.