When it comes to purchasing a mobile, Qualcomm has become a go-to choice owing to its amazing performance and speed. The chipsets made by the company has powered some of the flagship, mid-range and budget phones as well. Even after facing tight competition from Mediatek, Hi-Silicon& Exynos, Qualcomm’s monopoly hasn’t decreased. It has developed some amazing chipsets down the line, especially its 8-series. They are multi-core CPUs that can expand the possibilities of connected computing. It is the epitome of performance, power efficiency and lightning speed connectivity
Qualcomm recently introduced its next-generation chipset from its 8-series line and they are already making a huge buzz out there. For instance, Snapdragon 888, the next-gen chipsets from Qualcomm has already clocked some great numbers over every benchmark tests thrown at it. It has also powered some next-gen devices and rumoured to power some amazing flagships in near future. Xiaomi’s has confirmed 888 for Mi 11, Mi11 Pro. If rumours are true we might see the same in flagships from major brands such as the OnePlus 9, Asus, Samsung and even Sony as well. Then, what about their killers.
Flagship Killers: A Total New Bread
We heard the term “Flagship Killer” from OnePlus. It was coined as a strategic marketing label by OnePlus to sell OnePlus One, the first generation smartphone from OnePlus. It was the perfect antithesis to the swanky, expensive iPhone. The term bagged a huge chunk of sales for OnePlus and made a huge saga. Flagship Killers are the device that possesses the same outrageous hardware specs from flagship phones with chopped up price tags. They are like the dream come true for the budgeting geeks.
Since the strategy worked for OnePlus, we saw many companies tagging their new device with the same title. However, most of them failed miserably. Some of them just used the term to lure people while others just lost track and essence of being a flagship killer owing to their greedy nature. For instance, POCO F1 was toughed as the real flagship killer after OnePlus One. It smashed every record and even stood as an epitome of flagship killing. However, its successor POCO F2 Pro failed miserably. POCO lost the essence of being a flagship killer- The price factor.
Although POCO F2 Pro has got every flagship range specs under its hood, it was ridiculously priced on par with the flagships which made it to fail miserably. Even POCO has accepted the fact publicly on Twitter by saying F2 pro is not a good successor for POCO F1. They even added that unlike Snapdragon 845, 865 has taken everything from their hands and that eventually raised the price tag of the phone. Since its release, POCO only concentrated more on medium and lower budget range smartphones. We saw the X-series and M-series being born out of it.
Flagship Killer’s Dead End
The whole flagship killers line-up took a dead-end owing to the production costs and exclusivity factor. If we observe the previous chipsets from Qualcomm, the only powered the flagships. Except for iQOO, none of the phones brought up a flagship range chipset at a lower price tag. Making a budget-friendly phone with the same flagship range features might look good on paper but in reality, it takes a whole lot than that.
However, the market loves flagship killers. They just can’t stop adoring them and that made Qualcomm go for a new range of chipsets especially for this segment- The Snapdragon 870
Snapdragon 870: The Saviour of Flagship Killers
The Snapdragon 870 was one of them. It’s an upscaled version of 865+ which was designed to give high performance maintaining the budget factor. It is set to deliver an elite experience with unstoppable speed and efficiency. According to Qualcomm, this chipset is a total package, backed by, premium intelligence, boosted performance and next-gen connectivity. Some of its new features might blow your head off.
- Immersive Wi-Fi 6: It has equipped with a Fast Connect 6800 Subsystem that delivers Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth audio experiences.
- Boosting Gaming Performance: Snapdragon 870 comes with Adreno 650, a new and improved GPU from Qualcomm that can render true HDR gaming graphics featuring 10-bit colour depth and 2020 colour gamut.
- Premium AI: Snapdragon 870 possess the all-new 5th gen Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine combined with Qualcomm Hexagon 698 Processor and Hexagon Tensor Accelerator that can be pushing it up to 15 TOPS performance with incredible efficiency.
- Improved 5G Connectivity: The all-new X55 5G Modem-RF System enables extremely fast 5G connectivity with peak speeds ranging up to 7.5 Gbps.
Above all, the most tempting feature of the Snapdragon 870 is the price factor. Qualcomm has made this processor exclusively for budget segment smartphones. Qualcomm has even confronted the same through Twitter.
Since then, we first saw the chipset in action on Motorola Edge S, the first phone that’s powered by Snapdragon 870. It is already gaining huge attention. If rumours are to be true, we might see a handful of phones powered by it. Some of them might be the next flagship killers. Let’s take a look at some new smartphones that might be powered up by the all-new Snapdragon 870.
Snapdragon 870 Phone List (Alleged, Leaked & Confirmed)
Motorola Edge S (Confirmed)
Motorola Edge S is the first device to claim the all-new Snapdragon 870. It’s the third model from the edge series. It was released in China and reportedly set for global release in February or March. If rumours are true, this phone is tipped to be priced at 21,000 to 25,000 price segment. It’s the exact pre-requisite for a flagship killer.
Motorola Edge S specifications also include four rear cameras with a 64MP sensor, along with two selfie cameras. It is tipped to feature a 6.7-inch FHD+ 90Hz refresh rate display. It is powered with a massive 5000 mAh battery along with fast charge support of up to 20w.
OPPO Find X3 (Leaked)
Find X3 is the third generation phone from its X-Series line up and is rumoured to get Snapdragon 870 under its hood. Slashleaks, a famous mobile leaks website also published some images confirming the device presence powering with the same processor. According to its latest leaks, the device was rumoured to get 8GB RAM along with Android 11 out of the box. It has also leaked some images showcasing the built and design aspect of the phone.
OnePlus 9 Lite (Rumoured)
If the rumours are true, OnePlus is set to offer three devices at its new 9-series launch. OnePlus 9, 9 Pro and 9 Lite. OnePlus has a habit to launch the normal and pro version when it comes to its new releases. However, according to some rumours, the Chinese brand is thinking of launching a new device targeting the competitive flagship killer’s price segment. OnePlus is still thinking about its roots and they are present right at that budget price segment. Hence, they released NORD to stay at it. It was also turned out to be a disaster.
If rumours are true, OnePlus is rolling its dice again with Snapdragon 870 and the OnePlus 9 Lite might make it possible.
IQOO Neo 5 from VIVO (Rumored)
IQOO Neo 5 is flashing here and there for some time on social media. Numerous leaks released in the name of it suggest that VIVO is seriously working on a budget smartphone to name as a predecessor to its IQOO series. An alleged leak from Slashleaks also supports the rumours. It has showcased the phone’s existence along with some important specs.
POCO F2 (Rumored)
Poco F2, the successor to the legendary flagship killer Poco F1 is making serious rounds here and there on social media. Last year during the end, Poco India teased the arrival of the Poco F2. A recent leak claims that it will not be a flagship phone and might feature Snapdragon 732G instead of the 8-series. However, POCO officially denied it on Twitter and confirmed that POCO F2 will get a flagship-grade processor. POCO lauded that the F series is a step above the X series and will only get flagship range specs out of the box.
According to some reports, POCO F2 might get Snapdragon 870 or Snapdragon 888 under its sleeve. A recent tweet from Qualcomm is suggesting the same as well. Some rumours even suggesting that POCO F2 might feature Snapdragon 865+ to stay under the budget. Whatever it is, POCO F2 will surely get a flagship processor and we are crossing our fingers for that.
Redmi K40 (Rumoured)
Redmi K Series has faced a moderate success rate throughout the years. Its models K20 and K20 Pro made a huge business across countries like India and China. According to the company’s official Twitter handle, Xiaomi is looking forward to launching some flagship model down the line during the next 6 months. This brought K40 to the limelight and even some alleged images were also leaked online showcasing the same as well.
