Today, Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 has been launched. The new chipset promises higher performance and aims to deliver this performance at the lowest price. Although there are some setbacks compared to the previous generation Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, it is normal considering that smartphones equipped with this chipset will be sold at an affordable price. Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 has made the transition to the new Samsung 4nm (4LPP) manufacturing process. Additionally, it will now support LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage units.
Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Specifications
The new Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 should revitalize mid-range smartphones with increased bandwidth and high data transfer speeds. ARM Cortex-A78 CPUs with high clock speeds are combined with the 4nm LPP process. The presence of LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 support compared to Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 indicates that Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 will deliver better performance. However, there are some setbacks in certain aspects of the SoC. The previous 3x 12-bit Spectra ISP is no longer present and is replaced by a 2x 12-bit ISP. Devices with Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 should perform better in areas such as photography.
It is observed that CPU clock speeds have increased by 200MHz compared to the previous generation. The Cortex-A78 operates at 2.2GHz, while the Cortex-A55 operates at 2.0GHz. Samsung has become the manufacturer of Snapdragon 4 Gen 2. Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 was built on the 6nm TSMC manufacturing process, whereas the new processor is manufactured using Samsung’s 4nm (4LPP) process. Samsung’s manufacturing track record has received criticism, as devices like Snapdragon 888, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 were produced by Samsung and users were not satisfied.
However, the new 4nm (4LPP) process may be better than the 6nm TSMC process, although it is too early to make a definitive statement without testing. We will provide further information after testing smartphones powered by Snapdragon 4 Gen 2.
In terms of the modem, there is a transition from X51 5G to X61 5G. However, both modems offer the same download and upload speeds of 2.5Gbps and 900Mbps respectively. Additionally, Bluetooth 5.2 support has been removed from Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, as compromises were made in certain areas to enhance the processor’s performance. Xiaomi is expected to introduce its new smartphone Redmi Note 12R, in about a month, and it could be the first smartphone to feature Snapdragon 4 Gen 2. We will see this in the future.
