We may only be in the middle of 2020 and we don’t even know if there will be a Plus model of Qualcomm’s flagship processor, Snapdragon 865, but the company seems to have already completed the design of its next SoC and has even proceeded to produce it.
According to sources from Taiwan, TSMC has already started production of the successor to the Snapdragon 865, which will power the Android flagships of 2021. In fact, the Snapdragon 875 will be manufactured using the 5nm method, unlike the 7nm of the 865, while it will also have the X60 modem integrated for connection to 5G networks, the same model that is with the upcoming iPhone 12.
In terms of cores, Qualcomm seems to be pushing for the core to be divided into 1 core, 3 performance and four low-consumption, although this time the Prime core is expected to be the Cortex-X1, which is much stronger than the Cortex -A7x used by the company for so many years.
Specifically, the Cortex-X1 promises a 30% higher performance than the Cortex-A77. The three Cortex-A78 performance cores in turn can be up to 20% faster than the A77 in the same consumption or use the same speeds as the A77 but with 50% lower power. If we combine the best power management, the highest timings, and most transistors offered by the 5nm method, then we expect much better performance and more autonomy from that SoC.
The GPU will also receive an upgrade, with reports so far suggesting the use of the Adreno 660, which is expected to have the same architecture as the 650 but with performance modifications from Qualcomm. TSMC already has a loaded program, as in addition to Snapdragon 875, the company is building a new GPU for AMD and the first 5nm chipset we will see on the market, Apple’s A14.
