Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 announced for mid-range smartphones

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 has been announced as the newest member in the 600-series system on chip, aimed at mid-range devices. While no smartphones with the new chip have been announced yet, but we expect to see it on the market before the end of the year.

The Snapdragon 670 features eight Kryo 360 cores, six of which are clocked at 1.7GHz while two run at 2.0GHz. The chip also includes Qualcomm's Artificial Intelligence Engine, which is expected to further boost the performance of the CPU. It also assists functionality like face unlock and bokeh effects on photos. According to Qualcomm the Snapdragon 670 chip will offer "twice the performance" of its predecessor, the Snapdragon 660. The new chip also includes an Adreno 615 GPU, which is said to deliver "console-like gaming" on devices. The graphics chip also supports 4K video playback and 30fps video recording.

Qualcomm's new chip also includes a Spectra 250 image signal processor (ISP) which can support a single camera of up to a 25MP sensor or a dual camera setup of up to 16MPs. The new ISP also provides improved digital image stabilization.

The Snapdragon 670 is features QuickCharge4+ support which allows charging your battery from 0 to 15% in just 15 minutes. According to Qualcomm, the chipset's overall improvements in performance and power usage will account for up to 30% improved battery life over the Snapdragon 660.

By offering features very similar to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, this Snapdragon 670 chipset allows manufacturers to bring several flagship features to affordable handsets in the near future.