Snapdragon 875: Qualcomm reveals new chip and a surprising name

(Qualcomm has just launched the Snapdragon 888, ditching the rumoured Snapdragon 875 name. Not much is known so far, however we’ll learn more as the brand’s Tech Summit continues. Read below for previous rumours about this chip.)

Come late 2021, you can expect many phones to have been released with the upcoming Snapdragon 875 chip. The new flagship Qualcomm is as yet unannounced but a reveal is expected very soon and we’ve got everything you need to know.

Qualcomm’s chips span the Android smartphone market and 2021 is expected to be no different, with the company growing its dominance below the flagship level with the likes of the Snapdragon 765G in 2020. While Qualcomm is prolific, Apple and Huawei did beat them to the 5nm punch. With the Snapdragon 875, Qualcomm is expected to bridge that gap.

There’s still a whole lot we don’t yet know about the Snapdragon 875 chip but we’ve got all the key rumours on Qualcomm’s next flagship processor right here. Read on for all you need to know on its release date, specs and the phones it’ll show up on.

Snapdragon 875 release date

Qualcomm’s next flagship chip looks set to be revealed at the beginning of December, with devices sporting the chip coming in early 2021 (via SlashGear).

The expectation of an early December reveal comes courtesy of an invite to Qualcomm’s Tech Summit Digital 2020 event on December 1-2, where it will reveal “premium-tier mobile performance.” The Snapdragon 875 isn’t fully confirmed by this invite but the announcement is very much expected.

While its appearance on actual devices looks likely to not come until early 2021, when Samsung, Xiaomi, Redmi and more could whack the new flagship chip in its own flagship phones.

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Snapdragon 875 specs

A new leak from Digital Chat Station (via MyFixGuide) has revealed some more detailed specifications for the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 875. The new 5nm flagship chip is expected to include eight cores, with the main core clocked at 2.84GHz (likely a Cortex-X1), three performance cores clocked at 2.42GHz (Cortex-A78) and four energy saving cores clocked at 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55). The core setup is the same as the current flagship Snapdragon 865 chip, with efficiency boosts expected from the new 5nm process.

The graphics is expected to be updated to the new Adreno 660 GPU and a Snapdragon X60 5G modem, while the cache is also expected to see an improvement upon last generation.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 performance could provide a bigger performance boost than was initially expected, with early rumours showing it falling afoul of Samsung’s next Exynos 1000 chip.

The latest performance metrics from the new 5nm chip comes via leaker @yabhishekhd on Twitter and show the Snapdragon 875 beating its predecessor by over 25%:

Snapdragon 875 (Lahaina) Benchmark Score 8,47,868 Versus
Snapdragon 865+ Benchmark Score 6,29,245. pic.twitter.com/Wbr4Rj8cis

— Abhishek Yadav (@yabhishekhd) October 30, 2020

The score also beats leaked scores for the Samsung Exynos 1080 chip and Huawei’s current flagship Kirin 9000 – with their scores coming in at under 700,000 on the same Antutu benchmark (via NotebookCheck).

Snapdragon 875 phones

The first phones expected to sport the new Qualcomm chip are the Samsung Galaxy S21 range, Xiaomi Mi 11 and Redmi K40 Pro.

While SlashGear also reports Qualcomm has been working with Asus to produce updated versions of its ROG gaming phone lineup for early 2021 as well.

As expected, it’s the aforementioned flagship phones coming in early 2021 that will be the first to get the Snapdragon 875 chip. However, based on recent trends, we can also speculate the next flagships from the likes of Sony, OnePlus and Oppo will all adopt the tech next time around – with only the prospect of a 875+ processor later in 2021 potentially switching this up.