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Qualcomm Snapdragon 865: How it will change mobile gaming

Does the new flagship mobile processor from Qualcomm live up to its nickname, “the beast”? Here’s all we know about its gaming performance.

More and more people are using their mobile phones to play games, and so it’s becoming a more and more competitive space in the market. Here are the changes Qualcomm has made to its flagship mobile processor, intended to deliver better gaming performance than ever before. The new features include: enhanced responsiveness, improved rendering, and new HDR support.

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At the Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm has trumpeted the “Elite Gaming” performance of the Snapdragon 865, even going as far as to claim the entry of “desktop-level features” onto the market to bridge the gap between mobile and PC or console gaming. For instance, the new Snapdragon 865 provdes support for a responsive 144Hz display to give competitive gamers a qualitative edge over their rivals.

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On top of that, games should also look much better on the device thanks to improved rendering and additional HDR support. There’s a much-improved depth-of-field effect, along with convincing effects such as multiple dynamic lights and shadows, and motion blur. (You can see this performance for yourself in the video below.) There’s also been a boost to HDR support, with PUBG now boasting true 10-bit HDR when played on the Snapdragon 865; for other games, Qualcomm offers “Game Color Plus”, which boasts enhanced detail and contrast with enhanced saturation tuning.

In another encouraging move, you will also be able to download updateable GPU drivers for the system from the Google Play Store, so that you can improve gaming performance over the lifetime of your device. Needless to say, 5G connectivity brought by the Snapdragon 865 will also be desirable to gamers wanting the fastest connection possible; though not integrated, the chip will come with a separate X55 modem.

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