Qualcomm is one of the top performing chipset manufacturers out there and the Snapdragon 855, which premiered in December of 2018, is the brand’s crown jewel. It drives almost all Android flagships including OnePlus 7 Pro (review) and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus (review) as well as midrange handsets like the Redmi K20 Pro (review) and Asus 6Z (review). Today, Qualcomm announced a minor upgrade to this chipset called Snapdragon 855+ and Asus’ upcoming ROG 2 will be the first phone to employ it.
In the past too, Qualcomm has tweaked small improvements to its chips for a performance bump. With the newer SD 855+, these are the changes:
Snapdragon 855+ vs Snapdragon 855 comparison
| Mobile Platform | Snapdragon 855+ | Snapdragon 855 |
| Processor Cores |
@ 2.96GHz 4x256KB pL2
@ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL2
|
|
| Process | 7nm | 7nm |
| GPU | Adreno 640 @ 672MHz | Adreno 640 @ 585MHz |
| RAM | · 4x 16-bit CH @ 2133MHz · LPDDR4x · 3MB system cache |
· 4x 16-bit CH @ 2133MHz
· LPDDR4x · 3MB system cache |
| Modem | Snapdragon X24 LTE | Snapdragon X24 LTE |
| ISP | · Dual 14-bit Spectra 380
· Supports up to one 48MP sensor · Supports up to two 22MP sensors |
· Dual 14-bit Spectra 380
· Supports up to one 48MP sensor · Supports up to two 22MP sensors |
| DSP | · Hexagon 690 with integrated tensor accelerator unit (or NPU)
· Voice assistant AI Module |
· Hexagon 690 with integrated tensor accelerator unit (or NPU)
· Voice assistant AI Module |
| Encode/ Decode | · 2160p60 10-bit H.265
· HDR10, HDR10+, HLG · 720p480 |
· 2160p60 10-bit H.265
· HDR10, HDR10+, HLG · 720p480 |
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Snapdragon 855+: What’s improved?
In the above table, you would see that, for the most part, the specs remain unchanged. The key difference arises in the clock speeds of both CPU and GPU.
The primary CPU core now runs at 2.96GHz, which as per Qualcomm, would result in a 4.2% performance boost for single-threaded workloads. Another jump is in the GPU clock speed which has risen to 672MHz. This is said to boost a 15% peak in performance.
Rest of the specs remains same as Snapdragon 855 with the dual 14-bit Spectra 380 ISP, Snapdragon X24 LTE modem, Snapdragon X50 5G modem, Hexagon 690 DSP for Neural processing, so on so forth.
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Asus announced that it’s upcoming ROG 2 phone will be powered by this latest chipset. Even the ROG 1 was the first phone to include a higher bin version of Snapdragon 845 last year. Besides the 855 Plus platform, the rest of its specs are yet to be revealed. Nevertheless, the brand is confident about the overall performance leap. The gaming phone, successor to the Asus ROG is due soon.
We could witness more phones to arrive with the SD855+ chip in the future. For now, Nubia Red Magic 3 special edition, as well as phones from Vivo IQOO, Vivo Nex, Blackshark and Realme X Pro, are expected.
