The Snapdragon 888 may currently be making its debut in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 and Xiamoi Mi 11. But Qualcomm is not stopping at just adding a new chipset to its 8 series of high-end mobile processors. [The chipmaker announced the Snapdragon 870 5G as a follow-up to the Snapdragon 865 Plus. This system-on-chip will debut in late 2020, powering phones in lineups like Samsung's Galaxy Note 20.

Since the introduction of the Snapdragon 865 Plus, Qualcomm has rolled out its flagship mobile processing platform, the Snapdragon 888, which is expected to power many of the major Android flagships to be released this year It is expected to power many of the major Android flagships to be released this year. But not every phone needs a top-of-the-line processor. Last year, handset makers who wanted to add 5G compatibility but did not want to pay the high price for the Snapdragon 865 adopted the cheaper, less powerful Snapdragon 7 series chipset.

The Snapdragon 870 5G offers a new option for handset makers, and this new chipset has more in common with the Snapdragon 865 Plus than the 888, so it will likely be slightly less expensive.

For example, the Snapdragon 870 5G shares the same Spectra 480 image signal processor and uses the 5th generation Qualcomm AI engine as found in the Snapdragon 865 lineup; the Snapdragon 888 has a newer ISP and 6th generation AI engine.

Qualcomm is not skimping on the performance of the Snapdragon 870 5G, enhancing the Kryo 585 CPU and increasing the clock speed of the chipset's prime core to 3.2 GHz. The Snapdragon 865 Plus had a top clock speed of 3.1 GHz .

Given the increased speed and support for Qualcomm's Snapdragon Elite Gaming feature, which promises desktop-style gameplay on mobile devices, it is clear that Samsung views the Snapdragon 870 5G for mobile gaming. Graphics-enhancing features include Qualcomm Game Smoother to reduce junk, Adreno Fast Blend for complex visual rendering, and True 10-bit HDR gaming support.

The Snapdragon X55 modem combined with the 870G works with both sub-6GHz and mmWave-based 5G networks. Therefore, phones using this silicon should be able to work on 5G networks available in the U.S.

A phone with the Snapdragon 870 5G will be known shortly. According to Qualcomm, phones with this new system-on-chip will be available in the first three months of 2021. Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, and Xiaomi are all expected to release handsets with this new chip.