- Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 4s Gen2, it's affordable 5G chipset to power devices under USD100.
- Snapdragon 4s Gen2 reuses some specs from Snapdragon 4 Gen2 SoC but largely remains underpowered from tip to toe.
- Xiaomi India is expected to pick up the chipset first in India followed by others.
Well, it did leak a few times but luckily, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 SoC is officially here. Dubbed as the next-gen affordable 5G chipset sitting a bit under last year’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, this chipset made on a 4nm process is aimed towards budget offerings especially targeting price-sensitive markets like India.
All-new Budget-Friendly Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 Announced
The Snapdragon 4s Gen2 may seem like a successor to Snapdragon 4 Gen2, but it isn’t. There are epic differences between the two which is how you would tell them apart.
Both the chipsets are fabbed on a 4nm process. There’s a 2+6 cores configuration, however, the 2x high-performance cores on SD4s Gen2 are clocked at 2.0GHz instead of 2.2GHz on the vanilla SD4 Gen2. Similarly, you’ll see a 0.2GHz difference in the power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores as well which is clocked at 1.8GHz compared to 2.0GHz on the previous version. You’ll see the same scheme across other components which is why Qualcomm is tagging it an affordable Snapdragon 4-ish chipset.
On the memory end, the new chipset supports LPDDR4x RAM up to 2,133MHz (compared to LPDDR5x at 3,200MHz on the SD4 Gen2). The display is capped at up to FHD+ resolution at 90Hz which is again a drop from vanilla SD4 Gen2’s FHD+ @ 120Hz.
Moving on, we have up to 84MP camera optics support and up to 32MP Zero Shutter Lag and yes, that’s another drop from 108MP max resolution support found on last year’s version. On the video end, the latest chipset supports up to 1080p at 60fps (which is the same) but without EIS and that’s where the cutback lies.
Snapdragon 4s Gen2 packs in up to 1Gbps of down modem (compared to 2.5Gbps on Snapdragon 4 Gen2). Luckily, the Bluetooth (v5.1 with aptX), Wi-Fi (5)m USB (3.2 Gen1), and Charging tech (QC 4+) remained unchanged.
Talking about Snapdragon 4s Gen2 Availability, the chipset will power devices priced under USD100 or INR 8,375/-. Xiaomi India will likely pack it in the first in the country powering a new lineup of affordable 5G phones. Soon, other smartphone makers will follow, allowing potential price-sensitive buyers to enjoy cutting-edge 5G networks without selling more than INR 10,000/-.
