Snapdragon 670 Vs Snapdragon 845 – What’s The Difference?

Over the years, Qualcomm has come out with many chipsets. The company manufactures a vast majority of the processors used for Android phones in the United States.  However, its rich and complex product line may confuse the average consumer. 

So here is a simple to understand comparative analysis of 2 of their most popular processors: Snapdragon 670  and Snapdragon 845. Before we head to the in-depth analysis, here is a quick comparison table for starters:

The Key Differentiation

Snapdragon 670 Vs. 845 comparison

1. The fabrication process

The fabrication process of Snapdragon 670 and 845 is the same. Both these processors employ Samsung’s 10nm FinFET process. But despite this fact, their performance is not the same. 

As Snapdragon 845 is the flagship processor, it is but obvious that it receives the best possible Processor resources. Therefore unlike the Snapdragon 670, Snapdragon 845 is fabricated using the 2nd generation 10nm FinFET process. Although this is only a subtle difference, it does bear an impact on the performance.

2. CPU Performance

Let us now look into the CPU performance. The Snapdragon 670 and 845 have octa-core CPUs. However, the former has a Kryo 360 CPU. It has a 2+6 core configuration, which means that it has 2 high-performance cores clocked at 2 GHz and 6 energy-efficient cores clocked at 1.75 GHz. The design architecture used for developing both the high-performance core is the Cortex-A75 architecture.

Coming to Snapdragon 845, it comes with Kryo 385 CPU and has a more sophisticated CPU design. It has a 4+4 core combination. Thus the Snapdragon 845 has 4 high-performance cores clocked at 2.8 GHz and 6 energy-efficient cores clocked at 1.7 GHz. Just like the Snapdragon 670, the 4 high-performance cores are Cortex-A75 based cores.

Due to its powerful CPU design, the speed of Snapdragon 845 is 28.73% faster and thus delivers better performance. 

3. GPU Performance

Next coming to the GPU performance, the Snapdragon 670 comes with Adreno 615 GPU and has a speed of 700 MHz. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 845 comes with Adreno 630 GPU and has a speed of 730 MHz.

The Adreno 615 GPU is a fairly new system on a chip (SoC), and its performance in several mid-range smartphones has been impressive. It also offers a relatively good gaming experience. However, when compared to Snapdragon 845’s Adreno 630 GPU, it falls short by a tiny bit.

4. Artificial Intelligence

The Snapdragon 670 and 845 come with the 3rd Generation version of the Hexagon 685 DSP AI engine. Therefore the AI features on both these processors are similar. The Hexagon Vector extensions found in Snapdragon 670 and 845 help in advanced computing and faster image processing. According to Qualcomm, the Hexagon 685 DSP is almost 1.8 times faster than its predecessor.

5. Camera

Let us now have a look at the camera. The Snapdragon 670 comes with the Spectra 250 ISP, which is a dual 14-bit ISP. Here is a quick snapshot of its most notable features:

• Support for a maximum of 16 MP dual-camera at 30 FPS
• Support for a maximum of 25 MP single camera at 30 FPS

Additionally, this SoC can also back a 192 MP single sensor without manipulation and up to 48MP single sensor with MFNR.

Coming to the Snapdragon 845, it comes with the Spectra 280L ISP, which is a dual 14-bit ISP too. Here is a quick snapshot of its most notable features:

• Support for a maximum of 16 MP single camera at 60 FPS
• Support for a maximum of 16 MP dual-camera at 30 FPS
• Support for a maximum of 32 MP single camera with 30 FPS

It also supports a slow-motion video recording of up to 720p at 240FPS. Just like the Spectra 250 ISP, it can back a192 MP single sensor without manipulation too.

A point to be borne in mind here is that at present, the maximum camera sensor support available on any smartphone is 108 MP. Therefore one should not take the claim of 192MP support very seriously at the moment.

6. Connectivity

Let us now head to the connectivity department. The Snapdragon 670 comes with an X12 LTE modem, which makes use of LTE Cat. 12. It offers a maximum download speed of 600 Mbps and a maximum upload speed of 150 Mbps. Coming to the flagship Snapdragon 845, it has an X20 LTE Modem that employs LTE Cat. 18. It offers a maximum download speed of 2 Gbps and a maximum upload speed of 150Mbps.

Both the Snapdragon 670 and 845 can support Bluetooth 5.0, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC. However, the navigation feature of the Snapdragon 845 is slightly better as it has GPS support: Galileo and Beidou.

7. Storage, RAM & Display

Coming to the storage features, there is no difference between Snapdragon 670 and 845, as they both support the UFS2.1 storage type. Moving on to the RAM, the Snapdragon 670 offers support for up to 8GB LPDDR4X- 1866 RAM, and the maximum permissible bandwidth is 15.99 GB/s. 

The Snapdragon 845, on the other hand, offers support for up to 16GB LPDDR4X-1866 RAM and the maximum permissible bandwidth is 29.8 Gbit/s.  

Finally, let us now take a look at the display specifications of both these SoCs. While the Snapdragon 670 can only support full HD+ (2560×1600 pixels), the Snapdragon 845 can support a 4K ultra HD display (3840 x 2160 pixels). 

Technically both of them can record a 4K video. However, there is a difference in their FPS. The Snapdragon 670 can record a 4K video at only 30FPS, which is in stark contrast to the ability of Snapdragon 845, which can record a 4K video at 60FPS. Moreover, it has more audio codecs and video codecs than Snapdragon 670.

Conclusion

Although the Snapdragon 845 outperforms the Snapdragon 670 in many areas, you must not write off the latter altogether. As the Snapdragon 845 is the flagship model, it is naturally backed with many advanced features. However, the Snapdragon 670 is an effective mid-range offering that performs remarkably well in its respective segment. 

Therefore the final decision all boils down to your budget. If you are ready to invest more, opt for the premium Snapdragon 845. If not, go for Snapdragon 670, which will indeed serve you well.