Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G vs Qualcomm QCM6490

Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G (SDM778G 4G Mobile Platform) is a fast mid-range ARM-based SoC largely found on Android tablets and smartphones. It integrates eight cores (octa-core) divided into two clusters. A fast performance cluster with four cores based on the ARM Cortex-A78 architecture with up to 2.4 GHz and a power efficiency cluster with four small ARM Cortex-A55 cores at up to 1.8 GHz. Depending on the workload only single clusters or all cores can run at different clock speeds. In contrast to the Snapdragon 778 5G, the 778G 4G does not offer a 5G modem, but only supports 4G/LTE.

Thanks to the new Cortex-A78 cores, the CPU performance increases by up to 40% compared to the old Snapdragon 768G according to Qualcomm. In our benchmarks, the 778G is able to reach the performance of the old high end chip Kirin 990. 

The integrated Qualcomm Adreno 642L offers a 40% higher performance compared to the old Adreno 620 in the predecessor. This is partly thanks to the fast memory controller with LPDDR5-3200 support.

The integrated 6th gen AI engine called Hexagon 770 offers a 2x improvement and up to 12 TOPS of performance. The Spectra 570 ISP (image signal processor) supports up to three cameras. The satellite system supports all major standards like Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS and GPS.

The G specifies an optimized SoC for gaming and e.g. Qualcomm offers updates for the graphics driver.

The Snapdragon 778G is manufactured in the modern 6 nm process at TSMC (vs the 5LPE of the 780G).

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform is a high-end SoC for smartphones that was introduced in late 2020 and manufactured in 5 nm at Samsung. Integrates one “Prime Core” based on a ARM Cortex-X1 architecture clocked at up to 2.84 GHz. Three more performance cores are based on the A78 but clock up to 2.42 GHz. Furthermore, four energy saving cores are integrated that are based on the ARM Cortex-A55 architecture and clock at up to 1.8 GHz. In addition to the processor cores, the SoC integrates a WiFi 6e modem, a Hexagon 780 DSP (up to 26 TOPS of AI performance) and a Spectra 580 ISP. The integrated memory controller now supports faster LPDDR5 memory with up to 3,200 MHz. 5G is now included in the chip with the Snapdragon X60 modem.

The performance of the processor cores should be around 15% better than the old Snapdragon 865+. The integrated Adreon 660 GPU should make a bigger jump by 35% (most likely compared to the SD 865).

Qualcomm QCM6490

The Qualcomm QCM6490 is an upper mid-range SoC and is based on the Snapdragon 778G, but this variant is an extended-life chipset. The QCM6490 is being used for the first time in the Android smartphone Fairphone 5, but has actually been designed for corporate use and IoT applications.

The Kyro 670 CPU consists of a total of eight cores, which are divided into three clusters. The first cluster consists of just one high-performance core (Kyro Gold Plus, Cortex-A78), which operates at up to 2.71 GHz. The second cluster contains three further Cortex-A78 cores (Kyro Gold), each clocking at up to 2.40 GHz. The remaining four power-saving cores (Kyro Silver, Cortex-A55) are located in the last cluster and operate at up to 1.96 GHz. For the graphics calculations, an Adreno 643 with 812 MHz is integrated.

The QCM6490 SoC has an integrated 5G modem that supports both 5G-Sub6 and 5G-mmWave. In theory, this enables data rates of up to 3.7 Gbit/s downlink and 2.5 Gbit/s upload. Wi-Fi 6E is also on board, which supports the 6 GHz band.

The SoC is manufactured using the 6 nm process.