Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 8nm 5G Mobile Platform with support for up to 120Hz displays announced; will power LG, Motorola and more


Qualcomm just announced Snapdragon 690, the first 5G mobile platform in the 6-series with many firsts in the series including 4K HDR (true 10-bit) support to capture over a billion shades of color and snapshots at up to 192 Megapixels. It also supports 120hz displays,  supports the latest 5th generation Qualcomm AI Engine, features a Qualcomm Kryo 560 CPU for up to 20% performance improvement and Adreno 619L GPU for up to 60% faster graphics rendering compared to Snapdragon 675.

It has Snapdragon X51 5G Modem-RF System for 5G coverage, comes with Wi-Fi 6 and integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6200, support Dual-Frequency (L1 and L5) GNSS to improve location positioning accuracy and robustness, supports Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).

Highlights of Qualcomm Snapdragon 690

  • 2 x Kryo 560 Prime CPU (A77-based) at up to 2GHz, 6x Kryo 560 Efficiency CPUs (A55-based) at up to 1.7GHz
  • 8nm process technology
  • Built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon X51 5G modem-RF system
  • Download speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps (5G), 1.2 Gbps (LTE) / Upload speeds of Up to 660 Mbps (5G), 210 Mbps (LTE), 5G standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, FDD, TDD, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, Sub-6 GHz: 100 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning
  • Qualcomm Adreno 619L GPU, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1, DirectX 12
  • 4K HDR10 PQ and HLG Video Playback (10 bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut), H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) VP8 and VP9 playback
  • Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator for hardware accelerated voice signal processing, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec (up to WCD9385), Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), Playback: -108dB, Native DSD support, PCM up to 384 kHz/32-bit, Customizable “Golden Ears” filter, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier (up to WSA8815)
  •  Up to 32MP + 16MP dual camera, Up to 192MP single camera, Qualcomm Spectra 355L Image Sensor Processor (14-bit dual-ISP), Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, 4K HDR video capture with portrait mode, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture, Slow motion video capture up to 720p at 240fps, HEVC Video Capture, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG support
    (Bokeh)
  • On-Device Display Support: FHD+ @ 120Hz,  Maximum External Display Support: up to QHD @ 60 Hz, 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, HDR10 and HDR10+
  • Qualcomm Hexagon 692 Processor, Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Hexagon Tensor Accelerator
  • up to 8GB LPDDR4x 1866MHz, 2x16bit memory
  •  802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6-ready), Integrated 802.11ac Wave 2 x 2 MU-MIMO, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC
  • Dual frequency support, GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC,
    and SBAS, Low Power Geofencing and Tracking, Sensor-assisted Navigation
  •  USB 3.1, USB-C
  •  Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology

Devices based on Snapdragon 690 will roll out in the second half of 2020. With the new addition of Snapdragon 690, there will be more than 1,800 devices either announced and in development in the 6-series, said Qualcomm. HMD Global, LG Electronics, Motorola, SHARP, TCL, and Wingtech are among the OEMs/ODMs expected to announce smartphones powered by Snapdragon 690.


Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram