When we talk about Snapdragon chipsets, we assume that the newer the better, or the higher number in the model name, the better it will be, but it’s not the case with the Snapdragon 860. Read below to see how the Snapdragon 860 gets exposed!
Snapdragon 860
Qualcomm’s naming scheme for their chipsets is quite big, but to narrow it down we know that the 800 series is a flagship series, while the other series spread out all the way. But we do see a revision on the 800 series chipsets, which means that a new 800 series chipset will launch which will just use the name of the 800 series while not even being close to the whole series, and that is what is happening with the Snapdragon 860. When we see specification-wise, the Snapdragon 860 is just an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 855+ the 2-year-old chipset.
Snapdragon 860 got launched with the new Pocophone X3 Pro, but it is just a revised version of the 855+ if you read in detail. The 860 SoC The SoC features an octa-core processor with Qualcomm’s Kryo 485 CPU cores clocking up to 2.96 GHz, up from the 2.84 GHz in the Snapdragon 855, and the same clock speeds as the Snapdragon 855+, as well as an Adreno 640 GPU. It’s also fabricated on a 7nm process, just like the Snapdragon 855, 865, and 870 (for context, the new Snapdragon 888 uses a newer 5nm node). Compared to the 855, though, the 860 supports up to 16 GB of RAM and supports several new camera features such as ultra-wide lens night mode, selfie night mode, and dual video. These minor software tweaks are the only differences between 2019 855+ and 2021 860.
So are we being scammed? We buy a new phone thinking it has a new chipset, but actually, it has a 2-year-old chipset just with a new name and a few software tweaks? Well scammed wouldn’t be the correct word, but you should do your own research before purchasing a new smartphone because higher numbers don’t always mean better performance.
Even if you open Qualcomm’s website here, you can see how there is only one page for 855+ and 860, you can check the comparison for yourself. Even in Antutu benchmarks, Snapdragon 855+, the chipset scores 4,97,179 points, while Snapdragon 860 scores 4,91,412 in Antutu v8 testing, both scores are very similar, one could argue that 855+ outperforms the 860. Now in Geekbench benchmarks, we see that Snapdragon 855+ brings 758 points in single-core and 2,669 points in multi-core results, while Snapdragon 860 beats the 855+ with 782 points in single-core and 2792 points in multi-core results, but still very similar scores overall.
What do you guys think? Will you buy a phone with the 860 over a phone with 855+? Do you think that the 860 is better or worse? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
