Meet the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, Qualcomm’s new mid-range chipset

Qualcomm introduced it’s first-ever Snapdragon 6 chipset back in 2022 and refreshed the series with the launch of Snapdragon 6s Gen 3. Two years later, the US-based chip maker decided to revisit the Snapdragon 6 chipset family and add a third member.

The newly announced Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset promises 10 percent better CPU performance to the original Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset, 30 percent better rendering performance via Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU (graphics processing unit), as well as 20 percent better AI performance from the Qualcomm AI Engine.

Performance-wise, improvements over the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset are minimal because Qualcomm is using the same CPU configuration with just one tiny exception. For instance, both chipsets use four performance Cortex A78 cores paired with 4 efficiency Cortex A55 cores.

However, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3’s Cortex A78 CPUs run at up to 2.4GHz, whereas the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1’s go as high as 2.2GHz. Both chipsets feature the same Adreno 710 GPU (graphics processing unit).

The rest of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3’s specs are pretty much similar to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1’s, including support for up to 3200 MHz LPDDR5 (up to 12GB RAM) and full HD+ (120Hz refresh rate).

Also, the Qualcomm Spectra ISP (image signal processor) supports up to 200MP photo capture and 4K HDR video capture @ 30 FPS. Other highlights of the new chipset include QuickCharge 4+ support, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and 5G.

Qualcomm advertises Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 as the perfect chipset for gaming-oriented phones. The US-based company promises boosted performance and visuals, thanks to the Adreno GPU and select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features such as VRS (Variable Rate Shading), Game Color Plus, and Game Quick Touch.

These are probably the main aspects that make the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 perform better than the original Snapdragon 6 chipset. No word on when the first phones featuring Qualcomm’s chipset will be launched on the market, but we suspect they’ll start landing by the end of the year.