Snapdragon started the new naming scheme for its chipsets last year with the launch of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This year, we got Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. And now, the company launched two new SOCs under the Snapdragon 4 and 6 series, with the latest naming style, i.e., Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. So while Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 will power the budget 5G phones, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 will power the mid-range devices.
Starting with the 4 Gen 1, this is the first chip under the 4 series to be built on the 6nm process. Compared to the previous generation, i.e., Snapdragon 480/480+, the GPU performance gets a 10% boost, whereas the CPU performance is 15% improved. This chip is also the first in its series to support a 108MP camera sensor. There is the same 5G modem as Snapdragon 480+, the same ISP, the same display support, etc.
Coming to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, this is the successor to the Snapdragon 695, which powers a lot of mid-range Android phones. It comes with a lot of features that are first in this series. This is the first chip under the 6-series with 200MP camera sensor support, HDR video capture, WiFi 6E support, 3GPP Release 16 5G solution, and the 7th generation AI Engine. Qualcomm claims up to 30% better GPU performance and up to 35% better CPU performance compared to the previous generation. If the comparison is with the Snapdragon 695, these are some big performance upgrades.
This chip is built on the 4nm process, compared to the 6nm process used for Snapdragon 695.
Qualcomm says we will get phones with Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 from this month, whereas Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 phones will arrive in Q1 2023.