Snapdragon 660 and Snapdragon 630 will bring better photography and battery life to midrange phones

The next batch of midrange smartphones is set to take better photos and last longer, thanks to Qualcomm's newly unveiled Snapdragon 660 and Snapdragon 630 mobile chipsets.

There's a couple of exciting improvements across both new chipsets, including improved battery life (said to provide up to two more hours of battery life per day), faster quick charging, modems capable of achieving download speeds of up to 600Mbps, and the Spectra 160 Image Signal Processor (ISP).

Qualcomm says the Spectra 160 ISP will result in more natural skin tones, improved lowlight photography, as well as better power efficiency for smartphones with two rear-cameras. The Spectra 160 ISP was previously part of Qualcomm's 8-series chipsets, such as the 820.

The Snapdragon 660 succeeds Qualcomm's current top-end midrange chipsets, the 653, boasting a 20% increase in CPU performance and 75% increase in graphics. The beefier graphics processor also means that smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 660 will be able to make use of Quad HD displays, further blurring the line between "midrange" and "flagship".

The Snapdragon 630 succeeds the 625, and will offer a 10% improvement in terms of CPU, and 30% in graphics. 1080p will however still be the maximum resolution screen a 630 can power.

Expect to see Snapdragon 660-powered smartphones this quarter, and 630-powered devices from the second half of the year.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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