We’re just five months into availability of phones powered by the Snapdragon 865, and Qualcomm is already announcing a mid-cycle refresh that’s aimed at the gaming segment. The Snapdragon 865 Plus is now official, and Qualcomm says the chipset delivers 10% more power in gaming and AI-related use cases.
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 865 Plus will enable “desktop-quality” gaming at up to 144fps and 10-bit HDR gaming. Qualcomm hasn’t changed too many things here, and there are three key takeaways:
- The Cortex A77-based prime core is now clocked at 3.1GHz, which is a 10% increase over the regular 865. This makes the 865 Plus platform the first mobile chipset to be clocked at over 3GHz.
- The Adreno 650 GPU has been turned up, and Qualcomm says it delivers 10% better gaming performance. Qualcomm doesn’t detail the frequency of the Adreno 650, so we’ll have to wait until we get our hands on it to know more.
- Device vendors will be able to pair the 865 Plus with Qualcomm’s FastConnect 6900 platform to deliver Wi-Fi 6E connectivity with a total bandwidth of up to 3.6GHz.
The Snapdragon 865 is no slouch, but it is clear that Qualcomm is positioning the Snapdragon 865 Plus as a gaming-focused option. The Snapdragon 865 Plus will make its debut on ASUS’ ROG Phone 3, and it will also make its way to Lenovo’s Legion-branded gaming device that’s slated to launch shortly. We’ll also likely see more manufacturers launch devices based on the chipset in the coming months.