Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
On the evening of January 19, Qualcomm announced the official launch of the Snapdragon 870 5G mobile platform, an upgraded version of the previous flagship Snapdragon 865 and 865 Plus.

The Snapdragon 870 is the Snapdragon 865+ overclocked version, codenamed SM8250-AC. still using the CPU named Kryo 585 (A77+A55), but the large core super to a massive 3.2GHz, medium core, and small core maintain 2.42+1.8 unchanged, and the GPU is still Adreno 650, the performance has not been officially said to have improved.
Snapdragon 870 overall specifications and Snapdragon 865 Plus remain the same, the main change is the use of enhanced Kryo 585 CPU core, one of the mega-core of up to 3.2GHz, compared to Snapdragon 865 Plus and increased by 100MHz, compared to Snapdragon 865 is 360MHz higher.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 is still manufactured by 7nm process, integrated one large core + three medium core + four small core CPU, Adreno 650 GPU, FastConnect 6800 wireless subsystem, Spectra 480 ISP, Hexagon 698 DSP, can be external Snapdragon X55 5G baseband, support true 5G Sub-6GHz and millimeter-wave bands for the global market, with a maximum download rate of 7.5Gbps and a maximum upload rate of 3Gbps.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Specifications
- Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine
- AIE GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU
- AIE CPU: Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU
- Hexagon Processor: Qualcomm Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, QualcommbHexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Qualcomm Sensing Hub, Qualcomm Hexagon 698 Processor
- Cellular Modem
- Modem Name: Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF system
- Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave
- 5G Spectrum: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz
- 5G mmWave specs: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO
- 5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4×4 MIMO
- Multi-SIM features: Global 5G multi-SIM
- Cellular Technology: LTE including CBRS support, HSPA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE
- 5G Uplink Speed: Up to 3 Gbps
- 5G Downlink speed: Up to 7.5 Gbps
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi Standards: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 5, 802.11a/b/g/n
- Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6 technology features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8×8 sounding, OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), 1024 QAM, Dual-band simultaneous (DBS), WPA3 security support, Target Wake Time
- Wi-Fi Spectral Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz
- Peak Speed: 1.774 Gbps
- Bluetooth
- Bluetooth Audio: Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio, Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Bluetooth 5.2
- Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.2
- NFC
- Near Field Communications: Supported
- Location
- Satellite Systems Support: Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS, Dual frequency GNSS, NavIC enabled, GPS, GNSS, QZSS, SBAS
- USB
- USB Version: USB 3.1, USB-C
- CPU
- CPU Clock Speed: Up to 3.2 GHz
- CPU Cores: Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU, Octa-core CPU
- CPU Architecture: 64-bit
- Process
- Process Technology: 7 nm
- Qualcomm FastConnect Subsystem
- Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Subsystem: Qualcomm FastConnect 6800
- Bluetooth Features: Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Bluetooth 5.2, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio
- Wi-Fi 6 features: MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink), 8×8 sounding, OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink), Dual-band simultaneous (DBS), WPA3 security support, Target Wake Time
- Camera
- Image Signal Processor: Qualcomm Spectra 480 image signal processor, Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP), Dual 14-bit CV-ISPs
- Single Camera: Up to 200 MP
- Camera Features: HEIF photo capture
- Slow Motion Video Capture: 720p @ 960 FPS
- Video Capture Formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
- Dual Camera, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 25 MP
- Single Camera, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps: Up to 64 MP
- Video Capture Features: 4K video capture with simultaneous 64MP photo capture, Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture, Up to 10-bit color depth video capture
- Video
- Codec Support: Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9
- Display
- Max On-Device Display: 4K @ 60 Hz, QHD+ @ 144 Hz
- Max External Display: 4K @ 60 Hz
- HDR: HDR10+, HDR10
- Color Depth: Up to 10-bit
- Color Gamut: Rec2020
- General Audio
- Audio Technology: Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec up to Qualcomm WCD9385, Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier up to Qualcomm WSA8815, Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology
- GPU
- GPU Name: Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU
- GPU Video Playback: Volumetric VR video playback, 8K 360 VR video playback
- API Support: OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1, OpenGL ES 3.2, DX12
- Charging
- Qualcomm Quick Charge Technology Support: Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ technology
- Security Support
- Fingerprint Sensor: Qualcomm 3D Sonic, Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max
- Secure Processing Unit: Biometric Authentication (Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, Face)
- Security Features: Camera Security, Crypto Engine, Key Provisioning Security, Malware Protection, Qualcomm Content Protection, Qualcomm Mobile Security, Qualcomm Processor Security, Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), Secure Boot, Secure Token
- Memory
- Memory speed: 2750MHz
- Memory Type: 4x16bit, LPDDR5
- Part
- Part Number(s): SM8250-AC
Motorola Edge S Release Date
Snapdragon 870 phones will be launched within the first quarter, including Motorola, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, iQOO, and other manufacturers. While Motorola just announced that its new generation flagship Motorola Edge S will be the world’s first to be equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 chip. Motorola Edge S release date is January 26th, officially announced today.
Moto has won the first launch of a Qualcomm flagship core, and the new machine edge s has confirmed the first launch of the Snapdragon 870 processor. Besides, the Motorola Edge flagship series is still quite popular overseas (except in China). This is the first time that it will debut first in the Chinese market.

So, since there is a new generation of flagship platform Snapdragon 888, why release an upgraded version of Snapdragon 870? Qualcomm did not give a clear statement on this, speculation should be as a supplement to the Snapdragon 888, as high demand and lower production capacity of 5nm process.