Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 mobile chip promises lower latency, better 5G connectivity, and reduced power consumption for budget smartphones.

With this new chip, the generational upgrade from last year’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, Qualcomm is delivering features previously only seen in its higher-end models.

Central to this is the 4nm fabrication process, and the move to a new Snapdragon X61 5G Modem, which supports the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 16 specification for 5G connectivity.

This will bring the 5G performance of cheaper phones to a similar level of the iPhone 14 and Galaxy S22 range, which both use the comparable X65 modem.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 also promises a 10 per cent leap in performance from last year’s model, with an eight-core Kryo CPU dedicating two performance cores at 2.2GHz, and six efficiency cores at 2GHz. The Quick Charge 4+ Technology gives a 50 per cent recharge in just 15 minutes.

The Gen 2 chip will start appearing in smartphones in the second half of 2023.