Google has now officially unveiled its new Pixel 5 smartphone and as a result, confirmed all of the main features and specs on offer. One of the major differences with this year’s premium Pixel phone is that it does not come with a premium chip inside. More accurately, not the most premium Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, due to the inclusion of the Snapdragon 765G.
Google’s Pixel phones have always tended to come with the latest chips inside, putting them on par with the rest of the crop of premium phones each year. This was even true of last year’s Google Pixel 4 series with both the standard Pixel 4 and the larger Pixel 4XL coming loaded with the Snapdragon 855 chip. Therefore, while it would be expected that the Pixel 5 would come with the current best from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 865, that’s not the case.
While it might seem natural to compare the Snapdragon 765G with the Snapdragon 865 to see what’s missing, things are no longer that clear cut anymore. For example, although the Snapdragon 865 is newer and better, there are variables involved, such as efficiently. With the Pixel 5 being a 5G phone, the demand placed on the device is going to be greater. While the Snapdragon 865 might better handle things in general, the Snapdragon 765G comes with an integrated 5G modem which should make the phone more power efficient overall. The knock-on effects of this are likely to be wide-reaching, with general performance and battery life two of the areas that are likely to see a bump.
How The Snapdragon 765G & 855 Compare
In many ways, the smarter way to look at the Snapdragon 765G is to compare it to the Snapdragon 855. While that might seem like a strange comparison point, considering one is an older generation than the other, that’s very much the point. Although the Snapdragon 7-series is considered a lesser processor line than the Snapdragon 8-series, that’s usually in terms of same-year releases. Most new 7-series chips directly draw on the previous year’s 8-series improvements and advancements. In other words, the Snapdragon 765G is actually far more comparable to the Snapdragon 855 than the Snapdragon 865, or any other chip for that matter. For example, although the configuration is slightly different, both the Snapdragon 765G and 855 CPU architecture is made up of a mixture of ARM Cortex A76 and A55, with a clock speed of up to 2.4 GHz and 2.84 GHz, respectively.
This is not to say the Snapdragon 765G and the Snapdragon 855 are fully comparable, or anywhere near equal. They’re not. In most cases the 855 is likely to outperform the 765G time and time again, but when viewing the Pixel 5 solely through the prism of the SoC inside, then it is more logical to view it as more similar to the Snapdragon 855 than anything else, and especially in terms of features and general performance.
Source: Qualcomm