Leak reveals specs for Qualcomm's upcoming 5G-ready entry-level Snapdragon 6-series SoC

5G is certainly seeing increased adoption, but the fact that only premium mid-range and high-end phones support the new standard does not really help speed up the rate. SoC makers are well aware of this caveat, so we are now starting to see a move to include 5G features for entry-level mobile processors. Some of the upcoming budget SoCs to feature 5G compatibility include the MT6853 5G from MediaTek and the Kirin 720 5G from Huawei, while Samsung is rumored to soon announce the Exynos 880 5G. Qualcomm cannot be missing from the roster, as the latest leak coming from China points out to the existence of a Snapdragon 6-series chip that should be announced soon.

Reliable leaker Digital Chat Station from the Chinese Weibo forums reports that Qualcomm’s upcoming entry-level 5G SoC is codenamed SM6350 and integrates two Cortex-A77 performance cores clocked at 2.25 GHz coupled with six general use Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz. The SoC also includes an Adreno 615 iGPU that can boost up to 850 MHz.

The new wave of budget-friendly 5G handsets should be landing in the second half of 2020. Vivo will most likely be the first to deliver a budget 5G smartphone with the Y70s model powered by the Exynos 880 SoC. Soon after, the entry-level market should get pretty competitive, as MediaTek, Huawei and Qualcomm will try to disrupt Samsung’s dominance.