Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2: 4 nm SoC for budget smartphones is now official

Qualcomm has unveiled another SoC for low-end smartphones, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. It is an incremental upgrade over the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 launched earlier and will be featured on entry-level and mid-range smartphones in the second half of 2023. An earlier leak already confirmed the upcoming Redmi Note 12R would be one of the first smartphones to run Qualcomm's new AP.

Qualcomm hasn't revealed much about the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2's CPU. It has six efficiency cores (2.0 GHz boost) and two performance cores (2.2 GHz boost). While the exact CPU cores aren't specified, it is 64-bit only. There is absolutely no word about its GPU, so one can safely assume it to be a tweaked Adreno 619 from the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, with support for OpenGL, OpenCL 2.0 and Vulkan.

For wireless connectivity, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 supports 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi 6 is excluded, but that's understandable. Other supported standards include Bluetooth 5.1. The integrated Snapdragon X61 modem is compatible with SA and NSA sub-6 GHz 5G networks, with a maximum throughput of 2.5 Gbps (down) and 800 Mbps (up). A dual-SIM setup with two 5G-enabled cards is also possible.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2's dual-12-bit Spectra ISP can support one 108 MP camera sensor. Alternate configurations include two 16 MP sensors (30 FPS, ZSL (zero shutter lag)) and one 32 MP sensor (30 FPS, ZSL). Videography is capped at 1080p 60 fps. Slow-motion videos can be recorded at up to 720p 120 FPS.

A smartphone running the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 can sport one FHD+ (1,920 x 1,080) display at 120 Hz. Qualcomm's primary focus with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is battery life, with Quick Charge 4.0 support. It is manufactured on a 4 nm node (likely on Samsung's new 4LPP node). Lastly, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is compatible with 3,200 MT/s LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage.