Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ / 855 Plus

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus (855+) Mobile Platform is a high-end smartphone and tablet SoC that Qualcomm announced in 2019. Compared to the normal Snapdragon 855, the 855 Plus offers higher clock speeds of the GPU and CPU. The SoC integrates a fast ‘Prime Core’ that clocks up to 2.96 GHz (up from 2.84 GHz in the 855) and three further fast ARM Cortex-A76 performance cores, which can reach up to 2.42 GHz. These are complemented by four power-saving ARM Cortex-A55 cores that clock up to a maximum of 1.8 GHz.

The SoC also integrates the new X24 LTE modem that Qualcomm promises will deliver up to 2 Gbit/s maximum download speed over LTE Cat.20 and up to 316 Mbit/s upload speeds. The Snapdragon 855 can be configured with the company’s new X50 5G modem too.

Qualcomm has also improved the integrated Wi-Fi modem, which is Wi-Fi 6-ready, has 8x8 Sounding and supports up to 802.11 ay Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi modem can utilise the 60 GHz mmWave band for up to 10 Gbit/s internet speeds.

The Hexagon 690 DSP has undergone the most revisions of that which Qualcomm has integrated into the Snapdragon 855. The new DSP incorporates a neural processing unit (NPU) with dedicated Tensor-cores that can execute up to 7 trillion operations per second in conjunction with the CPU and GPU. In short, the Snapdragon 855 should be three times faster than the Snapdragon 845 and two times faster than the Kirin 980 SoC.

The Snapdragon 855 also has a Spectra 380 ISP onboard, which is the world’s first chip to incorporate a Computer Vision Engine (CV-ISP) that can perform depth calculations in videos at up to 60 FPS. The Snapdragon 855 should deliver real-time portrait modes or be able to detect objects with relatively low power consumption.

The built-in memory controller supports up to 16 GB LPDDR4x RAM (4 x 16-bit). As the SD855, the 855+ integrates an Adreno 640 graphics card that is now higher clocked and should offer a 15% higher performance.

Qualcomm will manufacturer the Snapdragon 855+ at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using a 7 nm FinFET process. 

Series	Qualcomm Snapdragon
Codename	Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 485)
Series: Snapdragon Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 485)	» Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ / 855 Plus 0 - 2.96 GHz 8 / 8 5 MB Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 485) Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 2.84 GHz 8 / 8 5 MB Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 485)
Clock Rate	<=2960 MHz
Level 2 Cache	1.8 MB
Level 3 Cache	5 MB
Number of Cores / Threads	8 / 8
Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power)	5 Watt
Manufacturing Technology	7 nm
Features	X24 LTE Modem, Adreno 640 GPU
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 640 (250 - 675 MHz)
64 Bit	64 Bit support
Architecture	ARM
Announcement Date	07/04/2019
Product Link (external)	Qualcomm Snapdragon SD 855+

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