While the Snapdragon 660 was once regarded to be one of the most powerful mid-range chipsets and one had to spend Rs. 15-17k for a phone touting that chip, the ever-so-competitive Indian smartphone market made way for much more powerful Snapdragon 675 and Snapdragon 710 chips for that price, which offered staggering value for money. Now that premium mid-range chips were offered on affordable mid-range smartphones, chips like the Snapdragon 665, which undoubtedly offers immense power has moved its way down to the ultra-affordable segment and is undoubtedly a huge win for the end-user. With the Snapdragon 665 touting Realme 5 launching for a price of under Rs. 10,000 in India, let’s see how the chipset fairs against the Snapdragon 675 and Snapdragon 710, both found on phones priced considerably higher.
Snapdragon 665 vs Snapdragon 660
Let’s first see what improvements the Snapdragon 665 offers compared to the last-gen Snapdragon 660. While the clock speed is slightly reduced from (up to) 2.2GHz to (up to) 2GHz, the major improvement is in terms of the manufacturing process. The Snapdragon 660 was manufactured on the 14nm process while the Snapdragon 665 is manufactured on the 11nm process. This means better battery efficiency and lower thermal levels. Both chips have eight cores based on the Kryo 260 architecture.
A major difference between the two chipsets is in terms of the GPU. The Snapdragon 660 has the Adreno 512 GPU while the Snapdragon 665 has an updated Adreno 610 GPU which should result in improved gaming performance. The DSP on the Snapdragon 660 is a Qualcomm Hexagon 680 while on the Snapdragon 665, it is the new Hexagon 686. There is much greater emphasis on the AI aspects of the Snapdragon 665 with a dedicated Neural Processing SDK. In terms of cameras too, the 665 does better with a Spectra 165 ISP compared to the Spectra 160 on the 660.
A slight downgrade though is the fact that the Snapdragon 660 has support for up to Quick Charge 4 whereas the new Snapdragon 665 has support for Quick Charge 3 only. If we go by benchmarks, the Realme 2 Pro which was launched with the Snapdragon 660 chipset scored around 135,000 in the AnTuTu benchmark while the Snapdragon 665 touting Realme 5 scored 140,000 in our tests which shows that while there is an improvement, it’s not going to be as noticeable in everyday usage.
Snapdragon 665 vs Snapdragon 675
When Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 7 Pro back in February this year, they claimed that the Snapdragon 675 is one of the most powerful mid-range chipsets and that it even beats the Snapdragon 710 in terms of performance. So, how does the Snapdragon 665 compare to that? The first major difference is in the architecture of the CPU cores. While both chips are manufactured on the 11nm process, the Snapdragon 675 uses much more powerful Kryo 460 cores as compared to the Kryo 260 cores on the Snapdragon 665. Both chipsets have the same clock speed. The Snapdragon 665 has the Adreno 610 GPU while the Snapdragon 675 has a slightly improved Adreno 612 GPU. The DSP is surprisingly slightly more updated on the Snapdragon 665 since it has a Hexagon 686 DSP while the Snapdragon 675 gets the Hexagon 685. Image processing is another area where the Snapdragon 675 excels when compared to the Snapdragon 665. The SD 675 has a Spectra 250L ISP which is much better when compared to the Spectra 165 ISP on the Snapdragon 665. This results in the better rendering of images. During charging too, the Snapdragon 675 can go up to Quick Charge 4+ whereas the Snapdragon 665 is limited to just Quick Charge 3. The Snapdragon 675 is overall a much more powerful chipset in terms of performance as well as graphics since the Kryo 460 cores are similar to the ones found on even the flagship-grade Snapdragon 855.
Snapdragon 665 vs Snapdragon 710
The first difference, albeit not a major one, is in terms of the manufacturing process. The Snapdragon 710 is manufactured on the 10nm process while the Snapdragon 665 is manufactured on the 11nm process. The first major difference is in terms of the CPU cores. While the Snapdragon 665 uses Kryo 260 cores, the Snapdragon 710 uses Kryo 360 cores which are more powerful and have a higher clock speed of up to 2.2GHz. In terms of graphics and gaming, the Snapdragon 710 performs much better with the Adreno 616 GPU which is even better than the Snapdragon 675. This is the reason why the Snapdragon 710 performs slightly better than Snapdragon 675 while gaming even though the Snapdragon 675 has a more powerful CPU. The DSP, however, is slightly more updated on the Snapdragon 665 which is the Hexagon 686 while on the Snapdragon 710 it is the Hexagon 685. Theoretically, the images shot with the same camera sensor on phones with the Snapdragon 710 are also going to look better compared to those shot on the Snapdragon 665. This is due to the much better Spectra 250 ISP. The Snapdragon 665 has a Spectra 165 ISP. Again, in terms of the charging technology, the Snapdragon 665 has support for just Quick Charge 3, whereas the Snapdragon 710 has support for Quick Charge 4. Undoubtedly, Snapdragon 710 is a more powerful chipset. But, when compared keeping in mind the price points of the phones they’re available in, the difference isn’t as major in day-to-day life as compared to that on paper. The Snapdragon 665 is undoubtedly a powerful chipset. The fact that phones touting the Snapdragon 665 are being made available for less than Rs. 10,000 is a huge win for consumers as you don’t really need to spend a fortune to get yourself a phone that performs smoothly and can play the latest games. If you play a lot of PUBG and are looking for a phone on a budget, watch out for phones with the SD 665. Perhaps in a few months, we will even get to see phones with Snapdragon 675 or 710 being sold for under Rs. 10,000. What a time to be a smartphone buyer in India!
