After throw its flagship Snapdragon 888 processor, Qualcomm presented today (15/12) its new Snapdragon 678 processor for mid-range smartphones. It is the updated version of the Snapdragon 675, introduced in October 2018, and is still built on the 11nm process. The new version surpasses the previous one by having an overclock on the Kryo 460 cores, which are 2,2GHz, instead of the 2,0GHz of the Snapdragon 675.

The GPU is the same Adreno 612 as the previous model, but it has higher performance, according to Qualcomm. The Snapdragon X12 LTE modem is also the same, with download speeds of up to 600 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 150 Mbps. In addition to the promised improvements in CPU and GPU performance, Qualcomm says in the release that the Snapdragon 678 “supports dynamic photography and video, and immersive entertainment experiences with long battery life, in fast and reliable connectivity.”

Okay, don't change a winning team, but this is an incremental change at best, being generous. In any case, the idea is to offer another option for this segment, in addition to the Snapdragon 690, released six months ago. As MediaTek keeps launching new SoCs for the segment and conquering more shares of the mid-range market, Qualcomm wants to make its presence felt.

The Snapdragon 678 processor is expected to power several mid-range smartphones in 2021, thus repeating the great success of its predecessor. We still don't have a list of smartphones that will be launched by which brands with it, such as Snapdragon 888 list, but that shouldn't take long.

The smartphone in the featured photo has a Snapdragon 750G processor.