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A new mid-range Snapdragon chip leaked, and it's left us confused
- Qualcomm is reportedly preparing to launch the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset.
- A leaker claimed that the chip would have an Adreno 810 GPU, which leaves us with questions.
Qualcomm switched to a new naming convention several years ago, abandoning the Snapdragon 600, Snapdragon 700, and Snapdragon 800 series names in favor of Snapdragon 6, Snapdragon 7, and Snapdragon 8 branding instead. These names have gradually become confusing, too, and a new leak is leaving us more confused.
Serial tipster Yogesh Brar noted that Qualcomm was readying the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 for release. The leaker didn’t dish out CPU details short of confirming a prime core clocked at 2.5GHz, three medium cores clocked at 2.4GHz, and four little cores running at 1.8GHz.
A new GPU naming convention?
What’s particularly confusing is that Brar claims the upcoming chipset has an Adreno 810 GPU. Qualcomm doesn’t publicly reveal GPU model numbers anymore, but it still uses these model numbers internally. The company has long used “Adreno 7xx” for its flagship processors and “Adreno 6xx” for mid-range and budget SoCs. So a new mid-range chip with an Adreno 810 GPU makes things especially confusing as the name (wrongly) suggests that this could have better performance than even flagship Qualcomm chips. By contrast, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has an Adreno 750 GPU.
The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 CPU clock speeds and Adreno 810 name were also spotted in a benchmark listing a few days ago (h/t: Quadrans Muralis on X). Benchmark listings can be easily spoofed, but Brar’s leak lends more credence to a change in GPU naming conventions.
Nevertheless, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 name means this chip will slot in below the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chip. So don’t hold your breath for performance that will threaten older flagship phones, let alone the best Android phones today.
The leaker also notes that the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 will be launched next month, with the first product following in September. This chip will apparently be used by Realme, Redmi, Motorola, and vivo. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 appeared in $300 to $500 phones, so expect the same price window for phones with the new chip.