Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 750G: Cortex-A77 & mmWave in the Premium Range

Today Qualcomm is announcing a new entry into their premium tier Snapdragon 700-series with the brand-new Snapdragon 750G platform and SoC. The new SoC, as its name implies, lies slightly below the popular Snapdragon 765/768 series released earlier this year, but since it’s a newer design, employs some new IP, such as new Cortex-A77 based performance cores.

The chip on paper looks extremely similar to the Snapdragon 690 which was released last June, however the 750G does have some important distinctions such as the inclusion of mmWave 5G connectivity support which enables it to be Qualcomm’s lowest-end chipset with the feature, positioning itself as an important chipset for the US market.

Qualcomm Snapdragon Premium SoCs 2019-2020
SoC	Snapdragon 768G	Snapdragon 765 / 765G	Snapdragon 750G (NEW)	Snapdragon 730G / 732G
CPU	1x Cortex A76 @ 2.8GHz 1x Cortex-A76 @ 2.4GHz 6x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz	1x Cortex A76 @ 2.3GHz / 2.4GHz 1x Cortex-A76 @ 2.2GHz 6x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz	2x Cortex-A77 @ 2.2GHz 6x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz	2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.2GHz / 2.3GHz 6x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
GPU	Adreno 620 +15% perf over 765G	Adreno 620 +20% perf (non-G) +38% perf (765G)	Adreno 619 +10% perf over 730G	Adreno 618 (+15% 732G)
DSP / NPU	Hexagon 696 HVX + Tensor 5.4TOPS AI (Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor)		Hexagon 694 HVX + Tensor 4TOPS AI (Total)	Hexagon 688 HVX + Tensor
Memory Controller	2x 16-bit CH @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 17.0GB/s			2x 16-bit CH @ 1866MHz LPDDR4X 14.9GB/s
ISP/Camera	Dual Spectra 355 ISP		Dual Spectra 355L ISP	Dual Spectra 350 ISP
Encode/ Decode	2160p30, 1080p120 H.264 & H.265 10-bit HDR pipelines
Integrated Modem	Snapdragon X52 Integrated (LTE Category 24/22) DL = 1200 Mbps 4x20MHz CA, 256-QAM UL = 210 Mbps 2x20MHz CA, 256-QAM (5G NR Sub-6 4x4 100MHz + mmWave 2x2 400MHz) DL = 3700 Mbps UL = 1600 Mbps			Snapdragon X15 LTE (Cat. 15/13) DL = 800Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM UL = 150Mbps 2x20MHz CA, 64-QAM
Mfc. Process	Samsung 7nm EUV (7LPP)		Samsung 8nm (8LPP)

Looking at the specs, the new Snapdragon 750G upgrades its CPU cores from the Cortex-A76 to newer Cortex-A77’s, clocking them up to 2.2GHz. The A77’s roughly has a 25% performance per clock advantage over the A76, meaning the new chip should be roughly equivalent to the Snapdragon 768G when it comes to CPU performance. Alongside the two performance cores, we also see 6x A55 cores clocked at up to 1.8GHz.

On the GPU side of things, we’re seeing the Adreno 619 GPU which promises a 10% performance boost over the Adreno 618 in the Snapdragon 730G.

Besides the CPU and GPU, the new chip also features a Hexagon 694 DSP and tensor accelerator and promises a combined platform computational throughput of 4TOPs.

Looking at all of the above specifications, they’re oddly familiar and seemingly match those of the Snapdragon 690 SoC, so it’s likely Qualcomm did a lot of design re-use between the two chipset generations.

One further difference from the S690 is the upgrade from 1833 to 2133MHz LPDDR4X memory.

The key difference though to the 6-series sibling however is in the modem: The Snapdragon 750G uses an X52 modem, the same as on the Snapdragon 765/768 chips, with the distinguishing factor to the X51-based variant of the Snapdragon 690 being the additional for mmWave support.

This is an important feature to have for the US market handset designs as it opens up support for the Verizon 5G network, whilst the rest of the world primarily is focusing on sub-6GHz deployments first.

The Snapdragon 750G is manufactured on Samsung’s 8nm process node, and from a device development standpoint is interesting as it’s pin-compatible with the Snapdragon 690 – meaning vendors can pick between the two SoC options without a major platform redesign.

Commercial devices with the Snapdragon 750G are expected to be available by the end of the year, with Xiaomi claiming to be the first vendor to launch a smartphone based on the platform.