Most of the flagship smartphones to ship so far this year have been powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor. But it’s officially no longer the chip maker’s most powerful smartphone processor.
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus is basically an overclocked version with higher CPU and graphics speeds — Qualcomm says it offers up to a 15 percent increase in graphics power, among other things.
Phones with the new Snapdragon 855 Plus are expected to ship in the second half of 2019 (which means any day now). One of the first could be the Asus ROG Phone II, an upcoming phone aimed at mobile gamers.
So what actually sets the Snapdragon 855 Plus apart from the non-Plus model? Not much, really.
They’re both octa-core processors with:
- 4 Kryo 485 Silver low-power CPU cores with 1.8 GHz top speeds
- 3 Kryo 485 Gold low-power CPU cores with 2.42 GHz top speeds
The only difference on the CPU front is in the final Kryo 485 Gold CPU core – the Snapdragon 855 has one that tops out at 2.84 GHz, while the Snapdragon 855 Plus version tops out at 2.96 GHz.
Both chips also feature Adreno 640 graphics, but the Snapdragon 855 version is clocked at 585 MHz, compared to 672 MHz for the Snapdragon 855 Plus.
In other words, it’s a higher-performance chip… but just barely. Most users probably wouldn’t notice much difference in day-to-day performance, but folks looking for the best mobile gaming experience possible might be willing to pay a few bucks extra for a smartphone with the new processor.
They may not notice the performance difference but they may notice the difference in battery drain and heat. I am not sure this makes sense.