Mid-range phones might receive flagship-level power with the next-gen Snapdragon 7 Plus chipset

Last year, Qualcomm rolled out the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2 processor, bringing a hefty performance boost to mid-range phones. Now, the buzz is building up for another substantial upgrade in the next Snapdragon 7 Plus chipset.

According to a post on Weibo by the tipster Digital Chat Station (via Android Authority), the upcoming Snapdragon 7 Plus processor, likely the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3, is poised for a "huge upgrade" (via machine translation). Specifically, the leaker suggests that the chipset will embrace the architecture of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the latest and most advanced Snapdragon processor, fueling 2024 flagship phones such as the OnePlus 12 and the upcoming Galaxy S24 series.

This chip boasts an octa-core CPU setup with a powerful Cortex-X4 big core, five Cortex-A720 medium cores, and two Cortex-A520 little cores. It is possible that the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 could rock the same impressive CPU cores.

To give you a clearer idea of what the cores do, imagine your smartphone's CPU as a team of workers, each tasked with carrying out different tasks. The big core, like a team leader, handles the most demanding tasks, such as running high-end games or complex apps.

The medium cores, like experienced workers, tackle regular tasks like web browsing and messaging. And the little cores, like apprentices, handle background tasks like running notifications and managing app processes.

By using a combination of big, medium, and little cores, SoCs can achieve a balance of performance and efficiency. This allows them to handle a wide range of tasks without sacrificing battery life.