Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 430, 617 SoCs: Incremental Updates
by Joshua Ho on September 15, 2015 1:27 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- SoCs
- Snapdragon 617
- Snapdragon 430
While the Snapdragon 820 is most likely to capture public attention as a halo product, Qualcomm has also been working on updating their mid-range SoCs. The first update announced was the Snapdragon 617, which appears to be similar to the Snapdragon 615 with an updated X8 modem for UE category 7 LTE, with support for carrier aggregation of up to 2 20 MHz carriers. The DSP is in the same family as the Snapdragon 615, but it looks like the DSP might have been rebranded. The ISP is shared with the Snapdragon 620, which allows for cameras with resolutions as high as 21MP.
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Lineup | ||||
| SoC | Snapdragon 615 | Snapdragon 617 | Snapdragon 618 | Snapdragon 620 |
| CPU | 4x Cortex A53 @1.0GHz 4x Cortex A53 @1.7GHz |
4x Cortex A53 @?GHz 4x Cortex A53 @1.5GHz |
4x Cortex A53 @1.2GHz 2x Cortex A72 @1.8GHz |
4x Cortex A53 @1.2GHz 4x Cortex A72 @1.8GHz |
| Memory Controller |
1x 32-bit @ 800MHz LPDDR3 6.4GB/s b/w |
1x 32-bit @ 933MHz LPDDR3 7.5GB/s b/w |
2x 32-bit @ 933MHz LPDDR3 14.9GB/s b/w |
2x 32-bit @ 933MHz LPDDR3 14.9GB/s b/w |
| GPU | Adreno 405 | Adreno 405 | "Next-gen" Adreno | "Next-gen" Adreno |
| Encode/ Decode |
1080p H.264 1080p30 HEVC decode |
1080p H.264 1080p60 HEVC decode |
2160p30, 1080p120 H.264 & HEVC |
2160p30, 1080p120 H.264 & HEVC |
| Camera/ISP | 21MP | Dual ISP 21MP |
Dual ISP 21MP |
Dual ISP 21MP |
| Integrated Modem |
"X5 LTE" Cat. 4 150Mbps DL 50Mbps UL |
"X8 LTE" Cat. 7 300Mbps DL 100Mbps UL |
"X8 LTE" Cat. 7 300Mbps DL 100Mbps UL 2x20MHz C.A. (DL & UL) |
"X8 LTE" Cat. 7 300Mbps DL 100Mbps UL 2x20MHz C.A. (DL & UL) |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Lineup | |||
| SoC | Snapdragon 415 | Snapdragon 425 | Snapdragon 430 |
| CPU | 4x Cortex A53@?GHz 4x Cortex A53@1.4GHz |
4x Cortex A53@?GHz 4x Cortex A53@1.7GHz |
4x Cortex A53@?GHz 4x Cortex A53@1.2GHz |
| Memory Controller |
1x 32-bit @ 667MHz LPDDR3 5.3GB/s b/w |
1x 32-bit @ 933MHz LPDDR3 7.5GB/s b/w |
1x 32-bit @ 800MHz LPDDR3 6.4GB/s b/w |
| GPU | Adreno 405 | Adreno 405 | Adreno 505 |
| Encode/ Decode |
1080p H.264 1080p30 HEVC decode |
1080p H.264 1080p60 HEVC decode |
1080p H.264 1080p30 HEVC decode |
| Camera/ISP | 13MP | Dual ISP 21MP |
Dual ISP 21MP |
| Integrated Modem |
"X5 LTE" Cat. 4 150Mbps DL 50Mbps UL |
"X8 LTE" Cat. 7 300Mbps DL 100Mbps U 2x20MHz C.A. (DL & UL) |
"X6 LTE" Cat. 4 150Mbps DL 50Mbps UL |
The Snapdragon 430 goes along a similar line of thought, but with a bump to 8 cores from the 4 cores of the Snapdragon 410/412. The GPU is also updated to Adreno 505 from the Adreno 306, but what this translates to is effectively unknown. The Snapdragon 430 will also have a UE category 4 modem with the ability to aggregate two 10 MHz downlink carriers for 150 Mbps and Category 5 uplink speeds of 75 Mbps. The ISP will be shared with the Snapdragon 617, which means dual ISPs that can enable a 21MP camera. Both SoCs and the Snapdragon 820 will support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, which improves charge efficiency and/or charge rate over Quick Charge 2.0.
Source: Qualcomm
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Le Geek - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I wonder how you can call the snapdragon 430 an "incremental" upgrade over the 410.Lets just talk of the gpu (the 410's biggest bottleneck), considering the 405 more than twice as fast as the 306 and the fact that 505 will be even faster doesn't make the update seem incremental at all.
JoshHo - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Given that these appear to still be using 28LP judging by the clock speed of the CPU clusters, it's somewhat incremental relative to high end mobile SoCs where we often see a change in GPU, ISP, CPU, DSPs, fixed function blocks, in addition to a new process node.This isn't necessarily a slight against Qualcomm, the nature of the mid-range market is very different from the high-end which is why SoCs tend to be more incremental in nature.
darkich - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Still doesn't take away from Geek's point - having twice the CPU cores and double the GPU speed is simply not incremental.JoshHo - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
That's fair, I just wanted to explain why I felt the update is relatively incremental.Le Geek - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I wonder why these budget offerings don't make a switch to atleast 28nm HPM.The LP process makes me wonder if the 430 will be plagued by the same overheating / throttling issues as the 615.
LiviuTM - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Perhaps costs? LP is clearly the cheapest.lilmoe - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Cheaper, but also more efficient in average clocks of those small cores. HPM is faster and more efficient when you go higher in performance and clocks.MrSpadge - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
8 tiny A53 at "up to 1.2 GHz" - if such a phone is thermally throttling they isulated the SOC in vacuum.Valis - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
New SD 6xx still 28 nm? Hmm, I was hoping for something 14 nm that wouldn't be the battery hog the 615 is. Don't need much more perf than 618 and 620, but could use the power consumption of the newer tech.lilmoe - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I believe the 430 and 617 are targeted for the low end and lower mid-range respectively. The 618 and 620 will target the midrange and upper-midrange respectively, the former having a hexa-core A72/A53 configuration, the latter having a similar octa-core configuration, and both rocking an Adreno 510 GPU.You're missing a couple of SKUs that were also annouced:
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/proce...
I agree with Le Geek. This is a major class shift in performance, where midrange SoCs are comparable to today's flagships (sans GPU).