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Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform announced: A much-needed upgrade for $100 phones
The Snapdragon 200 series hasn’t received much attention in recent years, with the low-end mobile chipset family still stuck in the 32-bit era. Fortunately, Qualcomm is rectifying this with the brand-new Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform, positioned as the successor to the obsolete Snapdragon 212.
The new chipset finally brings the series into the 64-bit era, offering a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU layout (1.3Ghz). In fact, the San Diego chipmaker says you can expect a CPU performance boost of 50 percent over previous 200-series chips.
Qualcomm’s new chipset also sports an Adreno 308 GPU which won’t trouble mid-range or flagship processors, but serves up 28 percent better gaming performance than the previous generation. Then again, this is the same GPU seen in the Snapdragon 425 series, so don’t expect a much better gaming experience.
| Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform | Snapdragon 212 | |
|---|---|---|
CPU | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform 4x Cortex-A53 | Snapdragon 212 4x Cortex-A7 |
CPU Clock | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform 4x 1.3GHz | Snapdragon 212 4x 1.3Ghz |
GPU | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform Adreno 308 | Snapdragon 212 Adreno 304 |
Modem | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform Cat 4 LTE 150Mbps downlink, 50Mbps uplink | Snapdragon 212 Cat 4 LTE 150Mbps downlink, 50Mbps uplink |
Display | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform HD+ 1,560 x 720 | Snapdragon 212 WXGA 1,280 X 720 |
Camera | Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform 13MP single or 8MP dual (13MP+13MP via "hot switching") | Snapdragon 212 8MP single |
The Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform is a solid hand in the media category though, serving up 8MP/8MP or 13MP/13MP dual camera support (including depth sensing and optical zoom), up to 13MP image capture, 1080p recording, HD+ display resolution (1,560 x 720), and Qualcomm’s Hexagon DSP for more efficient audio and sensor processing.
The Snapdragon 200-series chipset also serves up noteworthy connectivity options, such as Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), dual SIM support with dual VoLTE, NFC support, and ultra HD voice calls. Don’t hold out hope for the latest fast charging technology though, as the chipset only tops out at Quick Charge 1.0.
It all sounds pretty pedestrian if you bought a mid-range smartphone in the last three years or so. But it’s pretty impressive when you consider that phones with a Snapdragon 200 series chipset retail for well under $140, such as the $99 Nokia 2. Qualcomm says devices with this chipset will land in the $70 to $120 price bracket.
Phones with the Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform are set to land in the second half of the year, so you can expect a noteworthy performance/feature boost in this tier. What do you look for in a $100 phone? Let us know in the comments!