The 865 in particular is no real surprise: it’s the company’s latest flagship chipset, following on from the 855 and 845 before it, so an 865 turning up was pretty safe money. It probably also shouldn’t come as any surprise that the one concrete thing we do know about the 865 chip is that it includes baked in support for 5G with Qualcomm’s X55 5G modem, which is a separate but mandatory chip. Really, if you didn’t think the next Snapdragon flagship would boast 5G then you weren’t paying attention. Qualcomm calls its new flagship “the world’s most advanced 5G platform, delivering unmatched connectivity and performance for the next generation of flagship devices,” but then it would say something like that.
The 765 is arguably more interesting. It comes in two varieties – Snapdragon 765 and 765G – and going by the company’s usual nomenclature should be a more mid-range chipset. Not necessarily interesting in its own right, but the fact that it supports 5G is a little more exciting, especially since the 5G is integrated right into the chipset, rather than through a separate modem as in the 865. It signifies what should be a push to bring 5G out of flagships and into lower-priced handsets – a welcome move when Samsung’s £669 Galaxy A90 is what counts as ‘affordable’ in the 5G market right now. In addition to integrated 5G, the 765 chips will apparently provide “advanced AI processing, and select Snapdragon Elite Gaming experiences,” so it’s a safe bet that we’ll be hearing more about 5G gaming applications this week too. Is that what the ‘G’ in ‘765G’ stands for? The brief announcement kicks off Qualcomm’s annual Tech Summit in Hawaii, where it will be unveiling more info about the chipsets and hopefully a few other surprises – which may give us some hints as to what to expect from upcoming devices like the Galaxy S11 or OnePlus 8, both of which are likely to run on the Snapdragon 865. We’re here in Hawaii to cover the event (it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it) where we’ll be finding out more about the chips and hopefully putting them through their paces. Tech Advisor’s Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming - plus he’s a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
