Qualcomm refreshes its mid-range and entry level line; launches Snapdragon 616, 412 and 212 SoC

Qualcomm has announced a refresh to its mid-range and entry level mobile chipset lineup with the launch of Snapdragon 616, 412 and 212 SoCs. These new system on chips will replace Snapdragon 615, 410 and 210 SoCs respectively. All the three SoCs are based on the 28nm manufacturing process and are most likely minor updates to the lineup. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 has got a minor bump in the processor clock speed whereas the entry level Snapdragon 412 and 212 will be getting the benefits of LTE and carrier aggregation. This means that future smartphones sporting these chips will be 4G LTE capable. Snapdragon 616 will have an octa-core processor just like its predecessor - with a 4x ARM Cortex A53 at 1.7GHz and a 4x ARM Cortex A53 at 1.2GHz.  The Snapdragon 412 SoC will feature a 64-bit processor quad-core processor featuring a 1.4GHz COrtex A53 processor and Adreno 306GPU. It will be capable of supporting 13MP cameras and will support X5 LTE for up to Cat 4 speeds.  The Snapdragon 212 SoC will be seen on entry level phones and will feature a quad-core ARM Cortex A7 processor clocked at 1.3GHz along with Adreno 304 GPU. It will support up to an 8MP camera along with full HD video recording mode. The chips have started sampling now, so one can expect phones/tablets sporting these chips to be seen by the end of the year.