Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 Launched: Rebranded Version of Snapdragon 7s Gen 2?

Qualcomm has quietly unveiled a new mid-range mobile processor called the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (codenamed SM6475-AB). The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 will power affordable smartphones.

In fact, this processor can essentially be introduced as a downclocked version of the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2. However, it must be affirmed that the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is an important chipset in Qualcomm's market-shaping plan. Through this chip, Qualcomm wants to provide manufacturers with a processor solution for the next generation of mid-range smartphones that has high performance but is more affordable.

Architecturally, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is an octa-core processor, with four 2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 cores aimed at high performance, and four 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 cores aimed at energy efficiency. In terms of graphics processing, the SoC uses the Adreno 710 GPU. The chipset supports LPDDR4x and LPDDR5 RAM, as well as UFS 3.1 storage.

For comparison, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 has four 2.4GHz Cortex-A78 cores for high performance and four 1.95GHz Cortex-A55 cores for efficiency, paired with the Adreno 710 GPU. So the 6 Gen 3 and 7s Gen 2 are very similar chipsets. The only major difference is that the 7s Gen 2 supports a 144Hz refresh rate at FHD+ resolution, while the 6 Gen 3 does not. There are no other differences, and the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 does not offer any new features.

In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 improves CPU performance by up to 10% and GPU performance by 30% compared to its predecessor, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1. According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 promises to bring the device smooth multitasking, fast application loading and better gaming than the previous generation. This processor also comes with advanced AI features similar to many of Qualcomm's current new chip models.

There is still no information regarding the first smartphone models equipped with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor to be launched on the market in the future.