Qualcomm unveiled its latest 5G chipset, the Snapdragon 780G, promising a range of premium features for its 7-series portfolio which was traditionally used by OEMs in lower-priced smartphones.

The US-based chip company said the Snapdgragon 780G enabled a selection of premium-tier features for the first time in the 7-series, citing camera, AI applications and gaming improvements.

Its launch also notably comes at a time when the company has made headlines for being caught short with its chip supplies following a surge in demand, affecting numerous manufacturers.

Premium features
Among the features, the Snapdragon 780G will include a triple image signal processor, able to capture images from three cameras simultaneously, plus low-light features.

The new offering will be powered by the sixth-generation Qualcomm AI engine, meaning “every connection, video call and phone call is enhanced by AI”, it stated.

For gaming, the latest chipset enabled HDR, “desktop level gaming”, and makes next-generation services more accessible to OEMs and consumers.

The chipset will support Wi-Fi 6 data rates of up to 3.6Gb/s, along with what Qualcomm claimed will be VR-class low latency.

Since introducing the Snapdragon 7-series three years ago, more than 350 device models have launched based the mobile platforms, with OEMs using the portfolio in the past to differentiate smartphones at lower prices than previously possible.

Kedar Kondap, VP product management at Qualcomm, said the latest chip maintained momentum of providing “in-demand premium experiences to more users around the world”.

Commercial devices based on Snapdragon 780G are expected to be available in the second quarter.