Qualcomm has quietly taken the wraps off its new mid-range smartphone processor, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. On paper, it’s the successor to the 2022 Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 – there was no Gen 2 in between – but a peek under the hood reveals… well, it’s anything but new.
| SoC | Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 | Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 |
| CPU | – 4x Cortex-A78@ 2.4GHz – 4x Cortex-A55@ 1.8GHz | 4x Cortex-A78@ 2.2GHz 4x Cortex-A55@ 1.8GHz |
| GPU | Adreno | Adreno |
| ISP/Camera | – Spectra(3x 12-bit) – 1x 48MP with ZSL or – 32+16MP with ZSL or – 3x 16MP with ZSL – 4K HDR video | Spectra(3x 12-bit) – 1x 108MP or 48MP with ZSL or – 25+16MP with ZSL or – 3x 13MP with ZSL – 4K HDR video |
| Memory | LPDDR4X@2100MHz/ LPDDR5@3200MHz | LPDDR5@3200MHz |
| Wi-Fi/BT | – Wi-Fi 6E (2×2) – Bluetooth 5.2 | – Wi-Fi 6E (2×2) – Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Mfc. Process | 4nm | 4nm |
Both the chips are produced on Samsung’s 4nm process and feature an octa-core CPU configuration with the same core layout. Four high-performance Cortex-A78 cores and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores.
The only difference is in terms of clock speeds. The performance cores, aka Cortex-A78, in the 6 Gen 3 run at 2.4GHz, a slight bump from the 2.2GHz of the 6 Gen 1. Whereas, the efficiency cores still maintain a running frequency of 1.8GHz.
On the GPU side, Qualcomm isn’t saying much about the Adreno GPU block used here, just as it did with the 6 Gen 1. But we looked into the product briefs and there aren’t major differences in their feature set. Both have support for variable rate shading, alongside Qualcomm Game Color Touch and Game Quick Touch technology.
A bit of a change on the 6 Gen 3 (not an upgrade though) is that it now supports LPDDR4X RAM alongside LPDDR5. The latter is the only compatible memory module with the 6 Gen 1.
Beyond this, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is essentially a replica of its predecessor. Qualcomm is still using a triple 12-bit ISP here with a maximum single camera resolution of 48MP, while the display support caps out at just Full HD+ resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate. For connectivity, there is 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth v 5.2 support.
The SoC also retains features like Qualcomm Aqstic, aptX lossless, and aptX Adaptive for high-quality audio streaming. Navigation service is facilitated by dual-frequency GNSS, GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, and NavIC support. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 also has Quick Charge 4+ technology for fast charging.
There’s no word yet from Qualcomm on when the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 will officially debut in smartphones.
