Qualcomm has released a new system-on-chip that’s designed to support the new 18:9 aspect ratio displays that are becoming more common these days. Dubbed the Snapdragon 636, it is essentially a rejigged version of the Snapdragon 630 SoC released earlier this year.
The new SoC supports display resolution up to 2,160 x 1,080 pixels – the same found on the recently launched Huawei Nova 2i. In a nutshell, the new processor gives manufacturers options to feature the trendy 18:9 displays on mid-tier smartphones. There is also support for Assertive Display, so users can expect better screen performance even in harsh light.
Other features includes a faster CPU; the Kryo 260 CPU is around 40% faster than the previous generation. Download speeds will be similar to the previous SoC, as it has 600Mbps LTE support. Also supported with the Snapdragon 636 is NFC, so mobile payment supports and other NFC uses will be supported.
Lastly, Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon 636 can be used in smartphones designed around the Snapdragon 630 or 660, so we may see some manufacturers re-release some models with the new chip in the future.
No manufacturers has been confirmed for the Snapdragon 636 as of yet, but Qualcomm did say that it is shipping the chip sometime in November to phone makers. We may see the first smartphone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 by the end of 2017, or early 2018.
