Qualcomm usually launches a single 800-series flagship chipset, followed by a slightly souped-up Plus variant, each year. We made the leap from Snapdragon 865 SoC to the Snapdragon 888 SoC earlier last month. This is a significant jump as Snapdragon 888 is built on the 5nm process node, and also includes a prime ARM Cortex-X1 core. Now, we expected Qualcomm to unveil a new Snapdragon 700-series 5G chipset, a successor to the Snapdragon 765G, sometime in 2021. But today, the chipmaker has surprised us with the launch of another 800-series flagship chipset – the Snapdragon 870.

If you’re wondering how the Snapdragon 870 5G fits into Qualcomm’s flagship chipset lineup then you can check out our in-depth specs comparison and find out yourself:

As you can see in the table above, the Snapdragon 870 5G brings minor improvements over the Snapdragon 865 chipset. It is manufactured on a 7nm process node, includes the Adreno 650 GPU, Hexagon 698 DSP, Quick Charge 4.0+ support, and more — the same as its predecessor.

Snapdragon 870 5G: Budget Flagship Chipset for 2021

This is possibly the first time Qualcomm has refreshed an older-gen Snapdragon 800-series chipset and given it a minor boost to make it look new. The Snapdragon 870 5G chipset has launched to give consumers the impression that Qualcomm has brought a new budget flagship chipset in the market. It comfortably sits between the Snapdragon 765G 5G and Snapdragon 888 5G.

Is Snapdragon 870 5G a ‘new budget flagship chipset’ though? It is Snapdragon 865+ with a meager 0.1GHz boost in clock speed. Qualcomm has worked with TSMC to offer a little more juice with the Snapdragon 865+ chipset. It isn’t essentially a new chipset. But, it has been named Snapdragon 870 5G to attract users to a new chipset in 2021. I mean, Qualcomm is helping out its OEM partners ‘destigmatize the launch of budget flagship phones’ with a year-old chipset.

What Phones Will Be Powered by Snapdragon 870?

Currently, there are three companies that are expected to launch Snapdragon 870 5G phones in the coming weeks. This includes Motorola, Xiaomi, and OnePlus, as per the rumors making rounds on the Internet. Read on to find out more details about these phones:

Motorola Edge S

Motorola has already confirmed that it will unveil the Motorola Edge S (codenamed Nio for global markets) powered by Snapdragon 870 in China on 26th January. It will feature a dual-camera punch-hole cutout for selfies, quad rear-cameras, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and more.

Redmi K40 Series

Though the Redmi K40 series is confirmed to arrive with the Snapdragon 888 chipset in tow, the rumor mill suggests that there will be another model with the Snapdragon 870 chipset under the hood. This leak comes from reliable tipster Digital Chat Station and it mentioned an ‘unreleased sub-flagship processor,’ which has been unveiled by Qualcomm today.

OnePlus 9 Lite

Last but not least, the rumors of OnePlus 9 Lite launching alongside the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro have been around for a long time now. We assumed it will arrive with last year’s Snapdragon 865 or 865+ chipset in tow. But, Qualcomm has confirmed that OnePlus is also working on a device with the Snapdragon 870 under the hood.