For those who are unfamiliar with Qualcomm’s naming scheme for its Snapdragon chips, their name represents their market segment. For example, the highest-end chip family would be the Snapdragon 8-series which includes the recently announced Snapdragon 888 while the Snapdragon 2-series processors such as the Snapdragon 212 are meant for feature phones and entry-level smartphones.
Hence, Snapdragon 480 can be seen as Qualcomm’s latest effort to bring 5G connectivity to mainstream users after Snapdragon 690 and Snapdragon 765/765G. According to its specs sheet, the Snapdragon X51 modem within the processor can deliver up to 2.5Gbps and 800Mbps in terms of 5G and 4G download speeds alongside upload speeds of 660Mbps and 210Mbps through respective cellular technologies. Two more premium features have also made their debut in the Snapdragon 4-series chip through the new Snapdragon 480 including the 120Hz refresh rate support for Full HD+ screen and Quick Charge 4+. Aside from the integrated 5G modem, the 8nm processor is also equipped with Kryo 460 octa-core CPU that has a clock speed of up to 2.0GHz as well as Adreno 619 GPU, Hexagon 686 DSP, and Spectra 345 ISP. While there are no actual products that are running on Snapdragon 480 yet at the moment, Qualcomm stated that such devices would be revealed starting from this month onwards. So, expect the chip to be featured in new phones that are coming your way very soon.
