Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 865 processor

Qualcomm has officially announced its next flagship smartphone processor, the Snapdragon 865, at its annual Tech Summit in Hawaii. Along with a handful of other announcements – including more lofty promises about 5G capabilities – its newest flagship processor has finally been named, and the Snapdragon 865 is set to power flagship smartphones in 2020 and beyond.

Details are a little scarce at the time of writing, but we’re expecting more official information – including a full architecture breakdown and performance expectations – throughout the rest of the three-day event.

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What we do know for now is that, like last year’s 855 processor, the 865 will take advantage of Qualcomm’s X55 modem for 5G connectivity. The Image Signal Processor (ISP) can also capture 8K video at 30fps, each frame of 4K footage can be captured at 64-megapixels, and there’s support for 200-megapixel cameras too. It’s also supposed to be 25% faster and 25% more power efficient when compared with the 845.

There isn’t a long list of Snapdragon 865-powered phones at this early stage, although we can expect the usual culprits from Samsung, Xiaomi and others to take advantage of the new mobile chipset as 2020 rolls around. I’ve also been told that the Xiaomi Mi 10, which is due to launch early next year, will be one of the first phones to use the 865 mobile platform.

As for other announcements, Qualcomm also revealed that it’s bringing 5G to the masses with the new Snapdragon 765 and 765G. Qualcomm’s second 5G platform will include integrated 5G capabilities (something that the 865 doesn’t have) and will power non-flagship Android phones. As we’ve seen from Samsung recently, with its slightly more-affordable Galaxy A90 5G, this is a very smart move for the company.

I will be reporting on all the Qualcomm announcements at the Tech Summit over the course of the next few days, so please stay tuned for more news as and when we get it.