Between theSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultraand theOnePlus 11, we’ve been pretty impressed with Qualcomm’s latest flagship SoC. TheSnapdragon 8 Gen 2— first unveiled last fall — manages to showcase some mighty impressive speeds, all while maximizing battery life to keep your smartphone alive well into day two. But not everyone needs this level of performance, and that’s where the Snapdragon 7 series comes into play. Now, Qualcomm is set to bring a familiar set of specs to more customers than ever with theSnapdragon 7+ Gen 2.
Yes, you read that name right. Although the 7-series of chipsets has only seen one release since 2021’s big naming scheme shakeup — last spring’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 — the company has decided to launch a “Plus” version of this particular SoC right off the bat. Qualcomm says any chip with a + in its name no longer represents a performance improvement over a previous release; rather, it stands for what’s sitting at the top of its particular series.
Whether or not this delineation will end with Snapdragon’s model names once again becoming a confusing mess of various numbers remains to be seen, but here’s what I do know: the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 sounds like a big step up from last year’s model, at least on paper. In fact, its 1x3x4 architecture should sound pretty familiar to those who keep up on every chipset:
That’s a nearly identical architecture tolast year’s mid-generation Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, an SoC that continues to impress us to this day in phones likeSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The clock speeds aren’t an exact 1:1 match — the 8+ Gen 1’s main Cortex-X2 core could reach speeds up to 3.2Ghz — the 7+ Gen 2’s Kyro CPU looks pretty beefy for this series, featuring 50% improved performance than its predecessor. It’s paired with an Adreno GPU that Qualcomm says is two times faster, capable of Auto Variable Rate Shading, Volumetric Rendering, and, of course, HDR gaming. And like the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, this new 4nm chip is built by TSMC.
Looking at Qualcomm’s spec sheets for the two chipsets only draws more comparisons. This latest SoC now features support for three cameras with its 18-bit ISP, a upgrade from the 14-bit ISP on its predecessor, and can record in 4K60. It’s also capable of powering QHD+ displays at 120Hz — a huge step up from the first-gen 7-series chip.
None of this is to say the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 is a perfect clone of last year’s 8+ entry, though. Qualcomm has retained its X62 5G modem, which supports mmWave and Sub-6 but peaks at 4.4Gbps. And not all of the similarities between these two chips are for the best, either. Despitefinallyadding AV1 support to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, it’s once again missing on this year’s 7-series entry.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 will find its way stateside. As best as I can tell, last year’s 7-series chip was largely exclusive to devices like therecently-announced Xiaomi 13 Lite. Recent mid-range devices in the US like the Moto Edge or theGalaxy A54have stuck to SoCs from MediaTek or Samsung, while the upcomingNothing Phone 2 is all but confirmedto use a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Hopefully, this year’s performance boost will persuade OEMs to use the latest 7-series offering in globally-available smartphones.
