Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 675 back in 2018 as a mid-range chipset focused on providing a great experience for mobile gaming (without costing an arm and a leg). A lot has happened in the last two years, but Qualcomm isn't changing up the formula too much for this new successor apart from some dynamic camera upgrades and minor performance tweaks.

The name of Qualcomm's new processor may have jumped from 675 to 678, but there's not a whole lot of jumping going on inside the chip itself. It sticks with the same Kryo 460 CPU and Adreno 612 GPU that the Snapdragon 675 used in 2018. Despite the reliance on older hardware, the company has tweaked and optimized the chipset to deliver an increased clock speed in the CPU (from 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz) and an unspecified performance increase from the GPU.

Qualcomm did throw in some brand-new camera features, at least. The Spectra 250L ISP that powers imaging hardware supports still capture at up to 48MP with "zero" shutter lag. It also includes Qualcomm's 3rd-gen AI engine that purports to offer improved portrait mode and low-light captures. And while the 675 could only record limitless slo-motion in HD, the 678 bumps that resolution up to 4K.

While the Snapdragon 678 won't win any awards for the flashiest mid-range chipset of 2020 (no 5G here baby), it does seem to be a slight upgrade that, at the very least, should bring a bump in everyday performance and image capturing to phones featuring it.

Source: Qualcomm