Qualcomm skips Snapdragon 6 Gen 2, unveils the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3

Qualcomm has announced a new mobile chipset as a successor to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, but rather than launching as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 2, it has chosen to announce it as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (SM6475-AB) (not to be confused with the lesser-powered Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 launched in June 2024).

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is a 4nm octa-core processor with the same CPU cores as its predecessor. It has four Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.4GHz while the four Cortex-A55 cores are clocked at 1.8GHz. It also has the same Adreno 710 GPU with support for Vulkan 1.1 API, HDR playback support for HLG, and H.265 and VP9 hardware-accelerated decoder.

Unlike the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 which only supports LP-DDR5 memory up to 2750MHz, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 not only supports LP-DDR5 memory up to 3200MHz but adds support for LP-DDR4x memory up to 2100MHz. The new chipset also supports UFS 3.1 and memory density of up to 12GB. Another upgrade is the ISP which supports up to 32MP+16MP dual camera at 30 FPS with Zero Shutter Lag compared to its predecessor's 25+16 MP dual camera at 30 FPS with Zero Shutter Lag.

Other features of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 are support for FHD+ displays at 120Hz, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 LE, USB 3.1, and support for both 5G mmWave and sub-6GHz networks.

There's no news yet on when the chipset will be available and which manufacturers have signed up for it. Nevertheless, we won't be surprised to see it powering new phones before the year ends. The Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 on the other hand is already available in a couple of devices such as the Motorola Moto G85 which is currently available on Amazon.de for €278.