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Release of Snapdragon 690 to Enable Mid-Range 5G Phones
June 21, 2020

Early 2020 high-end smartphones offered 5G as one of their main differentiators to older devices, tempting those thinking about upgrading, despite the costs to jump from 4G to 5G speeds. Now, Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon 690, a much more mainstream, low-cost SoC that will likely bring 5G to phones as cheap as $300. No longer will 5G just be part of higher-cost Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765 series processors that support Qualcomm's 5G modems. And that means widespread 5G adoption, almost by default:
 

• The Snapdragon 690 is part of the family of chips included in the $300-$500 range of smartphones, including the likes of the Google Pixel 3a, Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro, and Motorola One Zoom.
• All of these are capable enough processors for most tasks, but you’ll hit a few stutters if you throw the latest games at them.
• Per Hadlee Simons: “Qualcomm’s new chipset delivers an X51 5G modem, supporting NSA and SA modes, dynamic spectrum sharing, and downlink speeds of up to 2.5Gbps. The Snapdragon 690 doesn’t seem to support mmWave 5G, which is the faster but more temperamental 5G standard in terms of coverage. So you’re left with sub-6GHz 5G, used by the vast majority of networks around the world.”
• Missing mmWave 5G is a big cost-saver, and it will hurt the very few people who are able to get mmWave 5G. As Hadlee points outs, sub-6GHz, or low-band 5G offers far more city block and wider regional coverage, even if it’s not quite as fast.
• Compared to the Snapdragon 675 (which was already faster than the Pixel 3a’s Snapdragon 670), Qualcomm says the new Snapdragon 690 CPU offers a 20% performance boost, courtesy of its 2GHz octa-core CPU, with two Cortex-A77 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores.
• This marks the first processors with the Cortex-A77 CPU in the mid-range Snapdragon 700 series or Snapdragon 600 series family. It’s all on an 8nm process which should provide better power efficiencies
• Graphics should be boosted further: Qualcomm claims the Adreno 619L GPU offers a 60% boost in graphics rendering over the Snapdragon 675, and now supports a 120Hz refresh rate at FHD+ resolution.
• Without listing everything, it also supports Wi-Fi 6-ready connectivity, Bluetooth 5.1, and Quick Charge 4+ technology, plus 192MP snaps and 4K HDR video recording.

 
Expect the first value smartphones with a Snapdragon 690 during H2 2020, or in the coming months, with Qualcomm saying HMD Nokia, LG, Motorola, Sharp, and TCL all have smartphones in the works with the chip. (The Pixel 4a is meant to get a 700-series Snapdragon, reportedly the 730). By 2021, new 4G-only phones might become curiosities.

• 5G licensing is still reportedly expensive, so $300 phones might be more like $350 or so as manufacturers adjust to costs.
• But, importantly, H2 2020 is when we expect the first 5G iPhone, as one of the iPhone 12 models.
• By September/October, all things pandemic considered, a budget-minded LG or Nokia smartphone might also have 5G, and the only real question is how well carriers have equipped networks to support the faster bandwidth and download speeds. 

From: Android Authority