Qualcomm has announced a new SoC for the Midrange segment and they're naming it Snapdragon 690.

This SoC is designed to battle with the Midrange 5G options offered by others silicon producers like Kirin, Exynos, Mediatek and even surprise surprise, Spreadtrum .

Let's look at this chip.

Note: this chip is new so some information may be changed later on.

Process/Die size : 8nm, this is the same as the SD720g. This is going to be a very battery efficient SoC.

Big.little arrangement: 2:6 that is 2 powerful cores and 6 efficient ones

Core number: Octacore (8 )

Core type: Two Kryo Gold 560 based on ARM Cortex A77 clocked at 2.0GHz

Six Kryo Silver 560 based on ARM cortex A55 clocked at 1.7GHz

GPU: Adreno 619

Memory: LPDDR4X running at 1866MHz with dual 16-bit channel support.

Connectivity: The big one here is that the Snapdragon 690 is a 5G chipset, it uses an integrated Snapdragon X51 modem.

The modem now adds support for 5G sub-6GHz with global band support. The speeds here scale up to 2500Mbps downstream and 1200Mbps upstream on sub-6 networks, utilising up to 100MHz of spectrum bandwidth. There is no mmWave connectivity which is not a big issue for most markets.

Camera: The Spectra ISP for the camera has also been upgraded bring it in line with the higher end chips. It now offers support up to 192MP still pictures or up to 48MP sensors with multi-frame noise reduction or a dual-camera setup in tandem of 32+16MP sensors. The chip has a 10-bit capture and display pipeline, allowing it 4K HDR capture and display – although we didn’t see mention of 4K60 recording.

WiFi: WiFi 6

Bluetooth: 5.3

Antutu benchmark: Unknown

Opinion box: I'm very pleased with the die size. It means that the SoC can do more and heat less. It would also conserve resources and save battery leading to longer screen on times (SoT). The new big little arrangements seem to be new standard now so there's no problems with that. The use of the A77 cortex cores is a huge deal for heavy users. The all powerful G90T, SD720G and even the SD730 all use ARM cortex A76 for their heavy lifting. This chip promises to be more powerful. It could be a good reason why they choose to not clock it too fast. 2.0GHz seems fair even though I would have liked to see a 2.2Ghz. The GPU is also very capable. A 600 class GPU so expect good things from this bad boy.

Memory, cameras and Bluetooth are standard. The 5G modem is the highlight of this SoC but it is a x51 instead of an X52 found on the SD700 series so it will not connect to an mmWave radio tower which has the fastest 5G speeds currently. It's a midranger sha so, what did I expect?

Possible phones: None announced yet. But whoever can utilize this chipset is probably my next customer, and for a fair price too, less than $240, €200 or N100,000. Na beg I dey.

Which OEM will be the first to use it? My guess is Transsion Xiaomi.

the 5G support issa win

so who'll produce 5G chip for transsion?

sunshineV:
the 5G support issa win


so who'll produce 5G chip for transsion?

You think you will make heaven like this?

Another update, kudos man. Exciting times ahead, I hope xiaomi uses this for RN10, then bob's my uncle

atheistandproud:
Qualcomm has announced a new SoC for the Midrange segment and they're naming it Snapdragon 690.

This SoC is designed to battle with the Midrange 5G options offered by others silicon producers like Kirin, Exynos, Mediatek and even surprise surprise, Spreadtrum .

Let's look at this chip.

Note: this chip is new so some information may be changed later on.

Process/Die size : 8nm, this is the same as the SD720g. This is going to be a very battery efficient SoC.

Big.little arrangement: 2:6 that is 2 powerful cores and 6 efficient ones

Core number: Octacore (8 )

Core type: Two Kryo Gold 560 based on ARM Cortex A77 clocked at 2.0GHz

Six Kryo Silver 560 based on ARM cortex A55 clocked at 1.7GHz

GPU: Adreno 619

Memory: LPDDR4X running at 1866MHz with dual 16-bit channel support.

Connectivity: The big one here is that the Snapdragon 690 is a 5G chipset, it uses an integrated Snapdragon X51 modem.

The modem now adds support for 5G sub-6GHz with global band support. The speeds here scale up to 2500Mbps downstream and 1200Mbps upstream on sub-6 networks, utilising up to 100MHz of spectrum bandwidth. There is no mmWave connectivity which is not a big issue for most markets.

Camera: The Spectra ISP for the camera has also been upgraded bring it in line with the higher end chips. It now offers support up to 192MP still pictures or up to 48MP sensors with multi-frame noise reduction or a dual-camera setup in tandem of 32+16MP sensors. The chip has a 10-bit capture and display pipeline, allowing it 4K HDR capture and display – although we didn’t see mention of 4K60 recording.

WiFi: WiFi 6

Bluetooth: 5.3

Antutu benchmark: Unknown

Opinion box: I'm very pleased with the die size. It means that the SoC can do more and heat less. It would also conserve resources and save battery leading to longer screen on times (SoT). The new big little arrangements seem to be new standard now so there's no problems with that. The use of the A77 cortex cores is a huge deal for heavy users. The all powerful G90T, SD720G and even the SD730 all use ARM cortex A76 for their heavy lifting. This chip promises to be more powerful. It could be a good reason why they choose to not clock it too fast. 2.0GHz seems fair even though I would have liked to see a 2.2Ghz. The GPU is also very capable. A 600 class GPU so expect good things from this bad boy.

Memory, cameras and Bluetooth are standard. The 5G modem is the highlight of this SoC but it is a x51 instead of an X52 found on the SD700 series so it will not connect to an mmWave radio tower which has the fastest 5G speeds currently. It's a midranger sha so, what did I expect?

Possible phones: None announced yet. But whoever can utilize this chipset is probably my next customer, and for a fair price too, less than $240, €200 or N100,000. Na beg I dey.

lmao, why you dey beg, you get money na waiting ti see what xioami uses for RN10

Many manufacturers including xiaomi will go for the Mediatek 5G variant because snapdragon is using their monopoly to make the 5g chips expensive.

Transsion ye.

yeeeeeeee, ye ye ye ye ye ye ye

transsion

Flytime:
Many manufacturers including xiaomi will go for the Mediatek 5G variant because snapdragon is using their monopoly to make the 5g chips expensive.

But Xiaomi have used only one Mediatek 5G processor Dinensity 820 as against 3 from Qualcomm, SD 865, SD 768G and SD 765G.

atheistandproud:
Qualcomm has announced a new SoC for the Midrange segment and they're naming it Snapdragon 690.

This SoC is designed to battle with the Midrange 5G options offered by others silicon producers like Kirin, Exynos, Mediatek and even surprise surprise, Spreadtrum .

Let's look at this chip.

Note: this chip is new so some information may be changed later on.

Process/Die size : 8nm, this is the same as the SD720g. This is going to be a very battery efficient SoC.

Big.little arrangement: 2:6 that is 2 powerful cores and 6 efficient ones

Core number: Octacore (8 )

Core type: Two Kryo Gold 560 based on ARM Cortex A77 clocked at 2.0GHz

Six Kryo Silver 560 based on ARM cortex A55 clocked at 1.7GHz

GPU: Adreno 619

Memory: LPDDR4X running at 1866MHz with dual 16-bit channel support.

Connectivity: The big one here is that the Snapdragon 690 is a 5G chipset, it uses an integrated Snapdragon X51 modem.

The modem now adds support for 5G sub-6GHz with global band support. The speeds here scale up to 2500Mbps downstream and 1200Mbps upstream on sub-6 networks, utilising up to 100MHz of spectrum bandwidth. There is no mmWave connectivity which is not a big issue for most markets.

Camera: The Spectra ISP for the camera has also been upgraded bring it in line with the higher end chips. It now offers support up to 192MP still pictures or up to 48MP sensors with multi-frame noise reduction or a dual-camera setup in tandem of 32+16MP sensors. The chip has a 10-bit capture and display pipeline, allowing it 4K HDR capture and display – although we didn’t see mention of 4K60 recording.

WiFi: WiFi 6

Bluetooth: 5.3

Antutu benchmark: Unknown

Opinion box: I'm very pleased with the die size. It means that the SoC can do more and heat less. It would also conserve resources and save battery leading to longer screen on times (SoT). The new big little arrangements seem to be new standard now so there's no problems with that. The use of the A77 cortex cores is a huge deal for heavy users. The all powerful G90T, SD720G and even the SD730 all use ARM cortex A76 for their heavy lifting. This chip promises to be more powerful. It could be a good reason why they choose to not clock it too fast. 2.0GHz seems fair even though I would have liked to see a 2.2Ghz. The GPU is also very capable. A 600 class GPU so expect good things from this bad boy.

Memory, cameras and Bluetooth are standard. The 5G modem is the highlight of this SoC but it is a x51 instead of an X52 found on the SD700 series so it will not connect to an mmWave radio tower which has the fastest 5G speeds currently. It's a midranger sha so, what did I expect?

Possible phones: None announced yet. But whoever can utilize this chipset is probably my next customer, and for a fair price too, less than $240, €200 or N100,000. Na beg I dey.

I don't even understand half of what is written up there

hardeycute:
Which OEM will be the first to use it? My guess is Transsion Xiaomi.

Lol.

sunshineV:
the 5G support issa win


so who'll produce 5G chip for transsion?

They'll sell it for 1 million oh plus their marketers go close Nairaland. Common G70 and we no fit hear word.

Hakeem12:
lmao, why you dey beg, you get money na waiting ti see what xioami uses for RN10

I just saw news this evening that Nokia have struck a deal with Qualcomm on releasing a phone with this chipset. I'm not a fan of Nokia because of
1. Android one
2. Small batteries
3. Their fuzzy charging ports

If Xiaomi put it in the 10 series then that's definitely my next phone.

But 5G implementation in Nigeria is another post entirely on its own.

atheistandproud:


I just saw news this evening that Nokia have struck a deal with Qualcomm on releasing a phone with this chipset. I'm not a fan of Nokia because of
1. Android one
2. Small batteries
3. Their fuzzy charging ports

If Xiaomi put it in the 10 series then that's definitely my next phone.

But 5G implementation in Nigeria is another post entirely on its own.

Exactly, we might not have it till 2025

Hakeem12:
Exactly, we might not have it till 2025

On top of that one, we are still struggling with 4G LTE implementation in Nigeria

In fact, in some places, 3G is faster than 4G. Our 4G here is just repackaged 3G or H+.

Who knows, maybe they'll give us 4G as 5G.

Significant GPU upgrade from the 675 though CPU upgrade is minimal if not disappointing despite the A77 cores...
Other categories like ISP, DSP and AI engine is a bump from 675.
Waiting for benchmark results to roll in before making final judgement but I feel the dimensity 8xx series to be a better option.

KrazyDave16:
Significant GPU upgrade from the 675 though CPU upgrade is minimal if not disappointing despite the A77 cores...
Other categories like ISP, DSP and AI engine is a bump from 675.
Waiting for benchmark results to roll in before making final judgement but I feel the dimensity 8xx series to be a better option.

The 690 is far far superior to the 675 bros.

If the G90T, 720G and 730 that are very powerful use the A76 just like the 675, why do you think that the A77 is disappointing? I don't understand your logic sha.

Here's what XDA has to say

The Cortex-A77, therefore, has an improved microarchitecture that results in 20%-35% performance improvements. The A76 was different from its predecessors in terms of the architecture, and it was meant to serve as a baseline for the next two designs in the Austin core family: the Cortex-A77 in 2019, and “Hercules” in 2020.

That 20 to 35% is a big deal.

Plus all the other kini kan kini kan.

But last last, I concur with you, let's wait for benchmarks.

atheistandproud:


The 690 is far far superior to the 675 bros.

If the G90T, 720G and 730 that use the A76 just like the 675, why do you think that the A77 is disappointing? I don't understand your logic sha.

Here's what XDA has to say

The Cortex-A77, therefore, has an improved microarchitecture that results in 20%-35% performance improvements. The A76 was different from its predecessors in terms of the architecture, and it was meant to serve as a baseline for the next two designs in the Austin core family: the Cortex-A77 in 2019, and “Hercules” in 2020.

That 20 to 35% is a big deal.

Plus all the other kini kan kini kan.

But last last, I concur with you, let's wait for benchmarks.

The clock speeds on the big cores at 2.0Ghz is a bit of a letdown. They should've increased it.
Even the dimensity 800/820 with 4 A76 cores will beat it at single thread performance cos they're clocked at 2.6Ghz compared to 2 A77 2.0Ghz cores.
It will be energy efficient, power efficient yes but with that clock speed, throttling will be your constant neighbor if you're a power user.

KrazyDave16:

The clock speeds on the big cores at 2.0Ghz is a bit of a letdown. They should've increased it.
Even the dimensity 800/820 with 4 A76 cores will beat it at single thread performance cos they're clocked at 2.6Ghz compared to 2 A77 2.0Ghz cores.
It will be energy efficient, power efficient yes but with that clock speed, throttling will be your constant neighbor if you're a power user.

Bro, I said it na. That I would have liked to see a 2.2GHz speed but they possibly had their reasons. See bro, G90T big cores na 2.0GHz too, yet it is still as powerful as the SD720G that had 2.3GHz.

Clock speed doesn't count for much when dealing with different architectures. I was shocked that SD690 has A77, no 700 series chipset has it. I'm thinking that's why they underclocked it so that it won't be better than 700 series chip too much.

In the future, they may send updates to speed it up. Who knows?

sunshineV:
the 5G support issa win


so who'll produce 5G chip for transsion?

None, cos they have to finish all the over brought tashy outdated medieteck chipsets in their warehouses before reasonable people can produce for them and that will take a century

hardeycute:
Which OEM will be the first to use it? My guess is Transsion Xiaomi.

Probably Nokia 8.3

atheistandproud:


Bro, I said it na. That I would have liked to see a 2.2GHz speed but they possibly had their reasons. See bro, G90T big cores na 2.0GHz too, yet it is still as powerful as the SD720G that had 2.3GHz.

Clock speed doesn't count for much when dealing with different architectures. I was shocked that SD690 has A77, no 700 series chipset has it. I'm thinking that's why they underclocked it so that it won't be better than 700 series chip too much.

In the future, they may send updates to speed it up. Who knows?

The whole architecture izh is new territory to me tbh, reading several articles on the topic, I got several questions but what stood out is the line between the upper midrange and lower midrange is almost non-existent (thanks for the quoting the article, learnt alot of other stuff from it as well).

I get the idea alright but i doubt Qualcomm will roll out updates to overclock it cos you said it - overclocking will(?) make it a better option than some 7xx chips out there, unless they launch a 698 or something which is quite likely given the competition.
For clocking speeds use kernel auditor to get the 7xx feel but it's pretty pointless.

KrazyDave16:

The whole architecture izh is new territory to me tbh, reading several articles on the topic, I got several questions but what stood out is the line between the upper midrange and lower midrange is almost non-existent (thanks for the quoting the article, learnt alot of other stuff from it as well).

I get the idea alright but i doubt Qualcomm will roll out updates to overclock it cos you said it - overclocking will(?) make it a better option than some 7xx chips out there, unless they launch a 698 or something which is quite likely given the competition.
For clocking speeds use kernel auditor to get the 7xx feel but it's pretty pointless.

Gbam!!!!

It's a midranger. So yes, I agree with you. They won't give us the 700 feel but regardless, I'm really pleased to see that A77 on the 690. I'm in love with it.

Hakeem12:
lmao, why you dey beg, you get money na waiting ti see what xioami uses for RN10

I no get money oh

I'm waiting for RN10 too sha.

ok

sunshineV:
the 5G support issa win


so who'll produce 5G chip for transsion?

Dimensity is there from mediatek, my concern is that trassion is yet to use 3years old P60 let alone P 90 so don't expect Dimensity 800 series in 5years time unless mediatek finds a way to tuck in 5G inside P35 and P22.

atheistandproud:
Qualcomm has announced a new SoC for the Midrange segment and they're naming it Snapdragon 690.

This SoC is designed to battle with the Midrange 5G options offered by others silicon producers like Kirin, Exynos, Mediatek and even surprise surprise, Spreadtrum .

Let's look at this chip.

Note: this chip is new so some information may be changed later on.

Process/Die size : 8nm, this is the same as the SD720g. This is going to be a very battery efficient SoC.

Big.little arrangement: 2:6 that is 2 powerful cores and 6 efficient ones

Core number: Octacore (8 )

Core type: Two Kryo Gold 560 based on ARM Cortex A77 clocked at 2.0GHz

Six Kryo Silver 560 based on ARM cortex A55 clocked at 1.7GHz

GPU: Adreno 619

Memory: LPDDR4X running at 1866MHz with dual 16-bit channel support.

Connectivity: The big one here is that the Snapdragon 690 is a 5G chipset, it uses an integrated Snapdragon X51 modem.

The modem now adds support for 5G sub-6GHz with global band support. The speeds here scale up to 2500Mbps downstream and 1200Mbps upstream on sub-6 networks, utilising up to 100MHz of spectrum bandwidth. There is no mmWave connectivity which is not a big issue for most markets.

Camera: The Spectra ISP for the camera has also been upgraded bring it in line with the higher end chips. It now offers support up to 192MP still pictures or up to 48MP sensors with multi-frame noise reduction or a dual-camera setup in tandem of 32+16MP sensors. The chip has a 10-bit capture and display pipeline, allowing it 4K HDR capture and display – although we didn’t see mention of 4K60 recording.

WiFi: WiFi 6

Bluetooth: 5.3

Antutu benchmark: Unknown

Opinion box: I'm very pleased with the die size. It means that the SoC can do more and heat less. It would also conserve resources and save battery leading to longer screen on times (SoT). The new big little arrangements seem to be new standard now so there's no problems with that. The use of the A77 cortex cores is a huge deal for heavy users. The all powerful G90T, SD720G and even the SD730 all use ARM cortex A76 for their heavy lifting. This chip promises to be more powerful. It could be a good reason why they choose to not clock it too fast. 2.0GHz seems fair even though I would have liked to see a 2.2Ghz. The GPU is also very capable. A 600 class GPU so expect good things from this bad boy.

Memory, cameras and Bluetooth are standard. The 5G modem is the highlight of this SoC but it is a x51 instead of an X52 found on the SD700 series so it will not connect to an mmWave radio tower which has the fastest 5G speeds currently. It's a midranger sha so, what did I expect?

Possible phones: None announced yet. But whoever can utilize this chipset is probably my next customer, and for a fair price too, less than $240, €200 or N100,000. Na beg I dey.

which brand is this?

seunfly:


Dimensity is there from mediatek, my concern is that trassion is yet to use 3years old P60 let alone P 90 so don't expect Dimensity 800 series in 5years time unless mediatek finds a way to tuck in 5G inside P35 and P22.

Impossicant (for the P22 or P35 5G)

If Transsion sell 5G phone, ready to buy am 120k plus.

That aside, Transsion will actually be a good marker of when 5G will become implemented in Nigeria.

Ejadike:
which brand is this?

Not a brand.

The company that makes Snapdragon processors is called Qualcomm sir and they have made a new 5G enabled processor for the Midrange Smartphone section.

So whoever wants to use it in their phone can go and patronise them.

Nokia have contacted them already and want to use it in their 8.3. We're waiting to see when Xiaomi and Samsung will contact them and which phones they'll use it for.

atheistandproud:


Impossicant (for the P22 or P35 5G)

If Transsion sell 5G phone, ready to buy am 120k plus.

That aside, Transsion will actually be a good marker of when 5G will become implemented in Nigeria.

I agree with u on this because their is no mediocre 5G soc in the market right now unless mediatek and unison decides to make useless 5G chips for OEM like tecno otherwise tecno will be forced to use avialble 5G chips.
The only thing that is sure is that trassion will repeat such chips for 5 years which will make them lag behind as usual.

seunfly:


I agree with u on this because their is no mediocre 5G soc in the market right now unless mediatek and unison decides to make useless 5G chips for OEM like tecno otherwise tecno will be forced to use avialble 5G chips.
The only thing that is sure is that trassion will repeat such chips for 5 years which will make them lag behind as usual.

Well Unisoc are making cheap 5G chipsets as we speak. They want to reinvent their battered image too.

If MTK do no make budget class 5G chips then Transsion may be forced to patronise Unisoc Spreadtrum.

atheistandproud:


Well Unisoc are making cheap 5G chipsets as we speak. They want to reinvent their battered image too.

If MTK do no make budget class 5G chips then Transsion may be forced to patronise Unisoc Spreadtrum.

This is my fear, the reputation of unisoc is nothing to be excited about for tecno to be onboard, if care is not taking 5G will take Nigerian phone users deep down the pit. lets keep our finger crossed because i feel it may be too early to tell.

seunfly:


This is my fear, the reputation of unisoc is nothing to be excited about for tecno to be onboard, if care is not taking 5G will take Nigerian phone users deep down the pit. lets keep our finger crossed because i feel it may be too early to tell.

I wan laugh piss for body here


Any Nigerian that falls into the trap of double disaster i.e Transsion and Unisoc in my opinion doesn't deserve pity.

Whatever the case, Unisoc are working hard to renew their battered image and reinvent themselves. So it may be too early to tell.