Qualcomm today announced a new Snapdragon chip to power the most affordable Android phones. The Snapdragon 215 replaces the 210, and offers greater performance in a number of key areas.
The new SoC is the most affordable Snapdragon chips, the 200 series sets the bar for the minimum amount of performance in $100 phones. The 215 has a number of firsts for the 200 series, including: support for Hexagon DSP for low-power processing of audio and sensor data, full-HD video capture, dual ISP for dual camera support, 64-bit CPU, and support for screens up to 1560 x 720 resolution.
Plus thereis he addition of Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 4.2. Android Pay is now supported with the addition of NFC support. This chip supports dual VoLTE and EVS Voice calls (“Ultra HD Voice Calls”), another first for the 200-series.
The CPU is up 50% faster compared to the 210, and the Adreno 308 GPU offers up to 28% faster graphics. The 215’s X5 modem supports Cat 4 LTE. The chip also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0
| Snapdragon 215 | Snapdragon 212 | |
| Node | 28nm | 28nm |
| CPU | 4x Cortex-A53 (64-bit, 50% faster) | 4x Cortex-A7 (32-bit) |
| GPU | Adreno 308 (28% faster) | Adreno 304 |
| Modem | X5 (150/50Mbps) | X5 (150/50Mbps) |
| Camera | 13MP or dual 8MP, 1080p video | 8MP, 720p video |
| Display | 1560x720px | 1280x720px |
| Charging | Quick Charge 1 | Quick Charge 2 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2 | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1 |
