After the announcement of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm is also updating its mid-range chip offerings as well. Unlike with its flagship sibling, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 positions itself between the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2.
Compared to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the Gen 3 has a 15% better CPU performance with its 1/3/4 configuration that includes a prime core at 2.63Ghz, three performance cores at 2.4Ghz, and four efficiency cores at 1.8Ghz. It’s also a 4nm processor, but uses TSMC’s process so power efficiency should be better as well–Qualcomm claims as much as 20% power savings.
Other key highlights include support for 120hz QHD+ displays, 4K HDR video capture with up to a 200-megapixel single camera, Snapdragon Sound, Quick Charge 5, and an X63 modem that supports download speeds of up to 5Gbps.
Given the scarcity of phones that actually used Snapdragon 7 series processors, it remains to be seen if more brands will actually use the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. Qualcomm’s mid-range chips also faces tough competition from MediaTek’s own mid-range chips, with the Dimensity 8100/8200 and Dimensity 7200 being among its solid offerings to date.
Qualcomm said that mid-range phones from HONOR and vivo will debut the new mid-range processor later this month–roughly at the same time when MediaTek will reportedly debut the Dimensity 8300 with the Redmi K70 this month as well.