As part of their Scaling the Mobile Compute Ecosystem presentation, Qualcomm this morning is announcing a refreshed version of their Snapdragon 7c for laptops. Aptly named Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, the updated chip for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks sports a slight clockspeed boost, bumping the frequency of the two Kryo 468 (Cortex-A76) cores up to 2.55GHz. Spec bumps aside, Qualcomm’s target market for the 7c family hasn’t changed, with the updated SoC designed to serve as an anchor for sub-$400 “always-on” devices.

The original Snapdragon 7c was announced back at Qualcomm’s 2019 tech summit, as part of Qualcomm’s efforts to flesh out their lineup of Snapdragon Compute SoCs aimed at Arm-powered PCs and other laptops. At the time, Qualcomm was (and still is) gunning heavily for making a market of always-on Windows devices, taking advantage of the low power consumption of Qualcomm’s chips and integrated LTE modem to deliver a mobile-like platform for Windows PCs. Those efforts, though not a smash hit, have at least proven fruitful enough for Qualcomm to refresh parts of the Snapdragon Compute lineup while better bringing Chromebooks into the fold as well.

To that end, the Snapdragon 7c is getting what amounts to a mid-generation face lift. Like the Gen 2 update for the 8cx last year, Qualcomm isn’t rolling out a new silicon design for the 7c Gen 2, but they are reaping the benefits of general yield improvements and better binning to ratchet up the clockspeeds. For the 7c Gen 2, the clockspeed on the chip’s two Cortex-A76 cores is being bumped from 2.4GHz to 2.55GHz.

Qualcomm Snapdragon Compute SoCs
SoC Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 Snapdragon 8c Snapdragon 7c Gen 2
CPU 4x Kryo 495 Gold (CA76)
4x Kryo 495 Silver (CA55)
Up to 3.15 GHz
4x Kryo 490 Gold (CA76)
4x Kryo 490 Silver (CA55)
Up to 2.45 GHz
2x Kryo 468 Gold (CA76)
6x Kryo 468 Silver (CA55)
Up to 2.55 GHz
GPU Adreno 680 Adreno 675 Adreno 618
DSP / NPU Hexagon 690 Hexagon 690 Hexagon 692
AI Perf Combined 7 TOPs 6 TOPs 5 TOPs
Memory
Controller
8x 16-bit CH
LPDDR4X-4266
63.58 GB/s
4x 16-bit CH
LPDDR4X-4266
31.79 GB/s
2 x 16-bit CH
LPDDR4X-4266
15.90 GB/s
ISP/Camera Dual 14-bit Spectra 390 ISP
1x 32MP or 2x 16MP
14-bit Spectra 255
1x 32MP or 2x 16MP
Decode
Encode
4Kp120 10-bit H.265
HDR Support
4Kp60 H.265
HDR Support
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 + BT 5.1 Wi-Fi 5 + BT 5.0
Integrated 4G Modem Snapdragon X24 LTE
(Category 20)
Snapdragon X15 LTE
(Category 15/13)
External 5G Modem Snapdragon X55 (Optional) --
Mfc. Process 7nm 7nm 8nm

Feature-wise, the rest of the package is otherwise the same as it was for the original Snapdragon 7c. This includes a dual-channel (32-bit) LPDDR4X memory bus, a Hexagon 692 DSP, a Spectra 255 ISP, and an LTE category 15 Snapdragon X15 modem. The 7c Gen 2 is unabashedly an entry-level platform, with Qualcomm keeping the feature set (and performance) light in order to be price-competitive in the entry-level market.

Overall then, the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 not much of a bump over the original Snapdragon 7c, but then again Qualcomm isn’t pitching the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 as a true next-generation successor to the original Snapdragon 7c. Instead, the launch of the 7c Gen 2 is being treated as something of a second launch for the 7c platform, while also letting Qualcomm pivot a bit on their device strategy to chase Windows devices and Chromebooks more equally. From Qualcomm’s perspective, they still have a competitive and desirable product, especially as entry-level devices have been selling like hotcakes over the past year due to the pandemic.

As with the original 7c, Qualcomm’s biggest strengths with the 7c Gen 2 platform are on battery life and the integrated LTE radio. While the performance of a pair of A76 CPU cores is nothing to write home about these days, they are rather power-efficient by PC standards. Meanwhile an integrated modem not only helps to sell the SoC to cost-conscious OEMs, but also security-minded companies that want their devices reachable the bulk of the time.

The competition for this revised SoC first and foremost remains Intel, who is now shipping their Tremont architecture-based Jasper Lake platform. Qualcomm is still looking to snag a piece of Intel’s PC pie, especially as the chip crunch has forced Intel to prioritize shipping high-end (high margin) hardware. And though Jasper Lake will undoubtedly make for stiffer competition than the older Gemini Lake platform, Qualcomm is still counting on battery life as well as their audio and video processing capabilities to give them an edge over Intel.

Wrapping things up, Qualcomm expects devices based on the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 to be available this summer. Given the hardware similarities to the original 7c, this should make for a relatively seamless transition for Qualcomm’s OEM partners.

Source: Qualcomm

Comments Locked

33 Comments

View All Comments

  • ikjadoon - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    Have ya read any single complete sentence in this article?

    These are laptop SoCs. Different market, different SKUs. Find me one laptop with an SD888. 💀
  • mode_13h - Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - link

    > These are laptop SoCs. Different market, different SKUs.

    Fair enough. Maybe this move is them trying to flush some older parts from their pipeline, before announcing he next wave.
  • KarlKastor - Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - link

    So tell me where the difference is, apart from the name?
    7c is just a 730G and the 8c a 855.
    Only the 8cx was new, a much broader Design on same IP like the 855.

    Qualcomm needs more than two year old Designs.
  • ArcadeEngineer - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    I've never actually seen any of the non-8cx Windows-on-Snapdragon laptops for sale. As far as I can tell there isn't a single one in the ~300 Windows laptop models on the PC World site. Are they all going through institutional orders or something?
  • amb9800 - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    They have a few models selling in the US through education channels, e.g. https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2020/01/...
  • mode_13h - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    They're going to be up against Rockchip RK3588, which has quad-A76 + quad-A55, NPU, HDMI 2.1, 8k 60p decoding, and is made on 8 nm LP.
  • nandnandnand - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    And it has AV1 decode, and supports 32 GB of RAM.

    Unfortunately, Rockchip RK3588 is late by a lot. Q3 2021 maybe?
  • Alistair - Monday, May 24, 2021 - link

    yes, Rockchip has a super cheap A76 chip coming out (should be, A76 is 3 years old) so I'm not sure why you'd spend any money on the 7c when it is coming to <$100 SBC soon
  • hanselltc - Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - link

    A76? Why even try then
  • Santoval - Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - link

    "This includes a dual-channel (32-bit) LPDDR4X memory bus.."
    This is kind of misleading, since the two channels of LPDDR4(X) are only internal, i.e. a single "physical" 32-bit channel that is also a (usually soldered) DIMM is split internally into two thin 16-bit "logical" channels.

    This is just the way this type of DRAM works, an optimization technique, and the same applies to LPDDR5 and I believe also DDR5. In other words there is no way to have a single (internal) channel with these types of DRAM, which defeats the purpose of stating that they are "dual channel" with just one DIMM. Since they split the normal 32-bit channel width in two they work identically, in terms of bandwidth, as a single 32-bit channel.

    Laptop and mobile phone manufacturers have been having a field day, marketing wise, with doubling the apparent channels of LPDDR4(X) and LPDDR5 and they get away with it because their DRAM is soldered (or soldered with one extra SODIMM in laptops). If the same is done with DDR5 later, which has clear, physical, distinct DIMMs, people are going to get confused.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now