Qualcomm Adreno 540 vs Qualcomm Adreno 640

Qualcomm Adreno 540

The Qualcomm Adreno 540 is an integrated graphics card in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC for smartphones. It was introduced in early 2017 and can be found in high-end Android smartphones. 

The integrated GPU is based on the optimized architecture of the Adreno 530, but features clearly improved clock speeds (710 versus 624 MHz according to Anandtech) and better thermal stability. This is also thanks to the new 10 nm process the Snapdragon 835 is produced in. In the reference smartphone from Qualcomm, the Adreno 540 is able to beat or perform at a similar level as the fastest smartphone graphics cards on the market (e.g. the ARM Mali-T880MP12, ARM Mali-G71MP8 or Apple A10 GPU). Therefore, it should be perfectly suited for demanding 3D gaming and also mobile VR and 4K displays.

Qualcomm Adreno 640

The Qualcomm Adreno 640 is a smartphone and tablet GPU that is integrated within the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC. The chip will be available from early 2019 and will be used mainly in high-end Android devices.

According to Qualcomm, the Adreno 640 GPU offers a 20% improved performance over the Adreno 630, its predecessor, which is integrated in the Snapdragon 845 SoC. The enhanced performance is achieved by the Adreno 640 having 50% more FP16 and FP32 compute units (ALUs) than the Adreno 630, while its 7 nm FinFET manufacturing process makes it 20% more efficient too.

The Adreno 640 will also support the Vulkan 1.1 API, something which is possible for other Adreno 600 series GPUs too.