The Qualcomm Snapdragon family of SoC processors are well-known among smartphones and tablet users since many devices are actually powered by one. However, Qualcomm will be renaming the tiers in its Snapdragon family from previous S-based designation (S1, S2, S3 and S4) which reflect the processor’s generation to numeric system (200, 400, 600 and 800) starting from this year onwards.

As one might expect, the numeric system corresponds to the performance level of each Snapdragon’s family member. Here’s a summary of each Snapdragon tiers under the new system:

Snapdragon 800 Processors: designed to deliver blazing fast apps and web browsing, visually stunning graphics, breakthrough multimedia capabilities, seamless communications virtually anytime, anywhere, and outstanding battery life for premium smartphones, Smart TVs, digital media adapters and tablets.

Snapdragon 600 Processors: designed to deliver outstanding performance for today’s coolest apps, fast web browsing, seamless connectivity and great battery life for mid-high tier smartphones and tablets.

Snapdragon 400 Processors: are designed to deliver the performance, features, connectivity and battery life that consumers expect in high volume smartphones and tablets.

Snapdragon 200 Processors: are designed to deliver a valued balance of performance, robust connectivity and better battery life for entry level smartphones.

The newly announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors are the first group of Snapdragon processor to be introduced under the new tier system. They are already available to device manufacturers for sampling right now, with products based on them are expected to be out in the market by the second quarter and middle of 2013 respectively.