Now when I first heard about the announcement of the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, I was just like meh…😕. Another low budget entry again. What’s there to be excited about?

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 is technically supposed to be a low end SoC from Qualcomm. It is meant to be a replacement for the very popular Snapdragon 680 which is starting to age now. The 4 Gen 1 aims to occupy a spot in the lower midrange segment and has already made its debut on the Redmi Note 12.

Using this logic, I was not very impressed. I mean there’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ and now the excellent Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. There’s also the very good looking Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 as well as 6 Gen 1. Now in my mind, these ones were the real SoCs, not the 4 Gen 1.

Boy…was I wrong.

So when an ardent reader of the blog recently queried me as to why the list of top 100 smartphone SoCs wasn’t updated, I decided to visit AnTuTu, Geekbench, Notebook check etc. to update it.

That was when I decided to look into the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 and my eyes became open. The biblical scales fell off 😳

Now Qualcomm uses this system to grade their SoCs.

Snapdragon 200 series (extinct)
Snapdragon 400 series
Snapdragon 600 series
Snapdragon 700 series
Snapdragon 800 series
I mean if Qualcomm Snapdragon are setting up the 4 Gen 1 as a low end SoC, then the ARMv9 generation is going to be lit!

Snapdragon 4 Gen 1
So let’s look at the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 quickly.

Big cores: 2 ARM Cortex A78 (2GHz)
Small cores: ARM Cortex A55 (1.8GHz)
GPU: Adreno 619
Core count: Octa core
Fab process: TSMC 6nm
Architecture: ARMv8
RAM: LPDDR4x (2133MHz)
Storage: UFS 2.2
ISP: Spectra
AI: Hexagon DSP
Camera: 108MP
Video: up to 1080p resolution
Modem: Snapdragon X51
Bluetooth: 5.3
WiFi: version 6


Performance

The first thing that caught my eye was that ARM Cortex A78 big cores on the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 and it blew my mind. Upper Midrangers like the 720G and 732G use a Cortex A76 for reference. The performance gap between the A78 and A76 is wide!

The SD732G with the Cortex A76 CPUs (2.3GHz) is clocked much faster than the the SD 4 Gen 1 with the Cortex A78 (2.0GHz). Yet the slower SD 4 Gen 1 does this on

Geekbench

Single core
Snapdragon 732G – 564
Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 – 618

Multi core
Snapdragon 732G – 1770
Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 – 1851

And this on

AnTuTu
Snapdragon 732G – 347540
Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 – 383434


What this means is that the ordinary Redmi Note 12 will be far better than all the Redmi Note pro variants. RN11 pro, RN11S, RN10 Pro, RN10S, RN10 5G, RN9 Pro, RN9S, RN8 Pro and RN7 Pro. This would be a huge first.

The vanilla Redmi phones have always used lower midrange SoCs. The Redmi Note 7 used the SD660, the Redmi Note 8 used the SD665, the Redmi Note 9 used a Helio G85, the Redmi Note 10 used a SD678 and the Redmi Note 11 used the SD680. The Redmi Note 12 will now use the SD4 Gen 1.

Now despite what’s being advertised, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 is anything but lower midrange. Unless of course, the standard for being lower midrange has changed.

If that’s the case, then we’re all using lower midrangers now. 😂😂😂😂

Everyone using phones with upper midrange SoCs like Helio G99, G96, G95, G90T and G90; Snapdragon 765, 732, 720, 730G; Dimensity 800u, 800, 720, 700 and even a flagship like the Apple A11 Bionic on the iPhone 8 and X…they’re all lower midrangers now.

We are in the midst of another revolution it seems. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 is only one of the signs of things to come.

GPU

The Adreno 619 is rather underwhelming when matched with the CPU cores and seems to be the first corner cut on this SoC.

The GPUs on the SD4 Gen 1 also do not quite meet up. It’s either the Adreno 619 on the SD4 Gen 1 was downclocked or the Adreno 618 is just better overall.

I’m saying this because the SD732G with Adreno 618 is performing slightly better on GPU tests when compared to the 619 on the SD4 Gen 1.

Even on AnTuTu, the 732G’s GPU performed slightly better.

Now I do not think that this should hinder the SD4 Gen 1 much because the Cortex A78 CPUs has the computational power to cover for the lapses of the 619. But just keep that in mind tho.

Storage

This SoC uses a standard LPDDR4x RAM clocked at 2133MHz and supports up to UFS 2.2. Decent midrange specs.

Cameras

The SoC also comes equipped with an unnamed Spectra ISP and Hexagon DSP to handle both photography and videography.

It supports camera resolution of up to 108MP and video resolutions of up to 1080p. It records videos of 1080p@60fps and plays them back at that same resolution.

To compare, the 732G supports up to 192MP cameras and records videos of up to 4K at 30fps and plays 4K video at 60fps.

Displays

It can drive display resolutions of 2520×1080p.

Battery

The SD4 Gen 1 uses a TSMC 6nm. This is one of the most effective fabrication nodes in existence today. Every SD680 user that I know is singing it’s praises. Everyone.

So the SD4 Gen 1 will manage battery very very well with minimal heating. This minimal heating will allow it to maintain peak performance for a long time, allowing you to do more on your phone. It should also mitigate thermal throttling and keep it to a minimum.

Connectivity

The SD4 Gen 1 boasts a very impressive Snapdragon X51 modem. This modem supports midband and Sub-6GHz 5G networks. It also supports Cat. 18 4G LTE. This modem has upload speeds of 210Mbps and download speeds of 800Mbps.

There’s also additional support for the latest Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6.

Conclusion

The SD 4 Gen 1 retains most specs that you’ll find on most lower midrangers but takes the CPU performance to a whole new level.

So in summary. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 has excellent:

1. CPU performance
2. Network connectivity
3. Battery management

And has lower midrange
4. Multimedia ability

So if you look at it from the performance angle alone, it’s flagship killer. However if you look at it all round, it’s just okay.

Most current upper-midrangers will perform better in multimedia tasks but cannot touch it in performance, battery or connectivity.

As for the possible prices, the Indian variant of the Redmi Note 12 sells for 17,999 INR or 102k Naira.

If this is the price that Xiaomi chooses sell here then it’s a steal. I’ll encourage anyone looking for a phone to buy it before the Naira crashes further.


Source: https://inquisitiveuniverse.com/2023/01/17/snapdragon-4-gen-1-is-worth-watching/

For more articles like this, you're very welcome to browse my blog

Insightful critique. Lovely piece.

all this one na story.. what if e dey hot like many snapdragons device wey I don use... I prefer mediatek to all these over hyped snapdragons.

Bodmum:
premium insights for free.

Arkmanbuddy:
Insightful critique. Lovely piece.

Thanks guys

You did a wonderful job. Nice review

Nice write up boss. But where would Snapdragon 695 rank, it's a new SOC that I am seeing in some new phones

sonyc00:
Nice write up boss. But where would Snapdragon 695 rank, it's a new SOC that I am seeing in some new phones

695 is not new. It's from late 2021 but most phone makers ignored it because it was very expensive then. It's an upper midrange SoC.

See number 55

For the full list, just google

TOP 100 SMARTPHONE SOCS 2023

You'll find me at number 1 spot there

Thank you for clarifying everything

sonyc00:
Thank you for clarifying everything

You're welcome

I have always had my doubts about this chip but you just cleared them. Generally i have this love for SD chips that sees me ignor most MTK dimensity chips no matter how appealing they appear i always favour a SD chip over them, I noticed xiaomi now use dimensity chips for their higher end phones

LogicBomb8:
I have always had my doubts about this chip but you just cleared them. Generally i have this love for SD chips that sees me ignore most MTK dimensity chips no matter how appealing they appear i always favour a SD chip over them, I noticed xiaomi now use dimensity chips for their higher end phones

Because Snapdragon SoCs are too damn expensive. Dimensity 1080 is around the same price as the Snapdragon 765G despite the fact that it's faster.

atheistandproud:


Because Snapdragon SoCs are too damn expensive. Dimensity 1080 is around the same price as the Snapdragon 765G despite the fact that it's faster.

Why are they that costly?
Can you do a comperism of the two

LogicBomb8:

Why are they that costly?
Can you do a *comparism of the two

First question.

Snapdragon SoCs are very costly for a variety of reasons.

1. Qualcomm uses an Architectural license.

2. Qualcomm makes their own GPU

3. Qualcomm spends money on research and development to make their own SoCs run more efficiently and better than those from MediaTek, Samsung Exynos, Huawei Kirin and Unisoc Tiger.

4. Qualcomm pays software, app and game developers to optimize their software to run very smoothly on Snapdragon.

5. Qualcomm leaves a lot of APIs and spends money teaching devs how to take advantage of these APIs to build mods (GCam, cracked apps etc.) and Custom ROMs for Snapdragon phones.

6. Qualcomm uses very good DSPs (Hexagon) and ISPs (Spectra) which they produce by themselves for photography, videography and AI. Qualcomm also uses their own display drivers for driving screens and reaching high refresh rates. Other companies just use generic parts from 3rd party vendors.

7. Qualcomm also uses their own Snapdragon X modems for network connectivity.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUFm7oPe-U


As for the comparison, you didn't state which two you were referring to but I'll assume SD765G and Dimensity 1080. Right?

atheistandproud:

You're welcome

how good is the dimensity 1080 to SD765g

LogicBomb8:
how good is the dimensity 1080 to SD765g

No contest

Edit: But you also have to consider that Snapdragon SoC is better optimized for running software