Snapdragon 820 Gives Qualcomm a Better Start to 2016

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 is picking up steam. We look at new smartphones powered with the premium processor—as well as other handsets with competing chips.

Qualcomm’s high-end SoC includes not only the Kyro CPU, but also improved graphics technology, a digital signal processor (DSP) and machine learning capabilities in the Zeroth platform. As a result, its capabilities include twice the performance of the 810, a 40 percent graphics improvement and a 60 percent power reduction over the older Snapdragon 801.

Samsung officials lauded the diverse features, connectivity and LTE capabilities in the Snapdragon 820 when announcing the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge would run on the Qualcomm SoC.

The fast-charging Chinese device maker rolled out the new Mi5, a smartphone with what company officials called a “3D ceramic body,” support for fast 4G LTE, near-field communication and quick-charging capabilities. And Xiaomi announced the device at an event co-branded with Qualcomm.

LG Electronics’ G5 includes an all-metal body and can be expanded so that it can use such accessories as external cameras and sound gear. There is no longer the curved back or aluminum body of the G4, and the G5 comes with an always-on screen feature that shows the time and date and access to notifications without having to kick on the operating system.

HP Inc.’s Elite x3 line of smartphones runs Microsoft’s Windows 10 and can be combined with an optional Mobile Extender dock that enables users to use a keyboard and display, or an optional Desk Dock that lets the smartphone be connected to a desktop monitor, keyboard, mouse and other peripherals.

The device maker is putting its Xperia Z smartphones behind it and bringing the Xperia X devices—including the Snapdragon 820-powered Xperia X Performance—to the market.

Qualcomm is getting good publicity around the Snapdragon 820, but it’s not the only game in the market. Samsung’s Exynos processors also can be found in new devices.

One of the challenges that contributed to Qualcomm’s troubles last year was the dominance of Samsung and Apple in the high-end premium smartphone market. Qualcomm officials said the two rivals owned more than 80 percent of the market, which limited its access to that space and put a squeeze on the chip maker’s revenues.

Officials with the massive Chinese tech vendor, which is growing fast in the global smartphone space, in November 2015 unveiled details of its Kirin 950 SoC, which will compete with high-end chips like the Snapdragon 820.

MediaTek last year introduced the Helio X20 mobile chip and its unique architecture that puts the 10 cores into three clusters rather than the traditional two, which company officials said increases its performance and power efficiency over competitive chips.