Mid-range Android phones could be getting a huge camera upgrade

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

published 18 March 2023

The next generation of Qualcomm's Snapdragons for the best Android phones at more modest price points, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, doesn't just deliver a pretty impressive performance boost. It looks like it'll give your camera one too.

According to a new report by SamMobile, the new chipset will deliver the same kind of performance as 2022's flagship Androids. The CPU is 50% faster than the first generation and the GPU is 200% faster. But that's not all. It also reportedly supports Samsung's 200MP camera sensors, and more RAM to power your next phone's photo processing.

More power for your phone's photography

The Gen 2 system has some serious camera power. It's the first 7-series chip that supports video recording at 4K resolution with frame rates up to 60fps. It's also capable of recording slo-mo at 240fps.

The Image Signal Processor in the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 is a Qualcomm Specra Triple 18-bit chip, which is new to the 7 series. It's capable of processing images from three 32MP cameras simultaneously without any shutter lag, and it can take photos at up to 200MP. For video it can record 4K HDR at up to 60fps and slo-mo at up to 240fps.

There's better connectivity too. Qualcomm's model supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz for fast 5G across more networks and frequency bands, and there's Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for fast and stable connections.

It's all very impressive, but when do we get to see it in the metal? That hasn't been confirmed yet, but the smart money is on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE – if indeed there is such a thing, because reports have oscillated between saying the S23 FE is definitely happening and saying the S23 FE is definitely not happening. The latest swing is into the definitely happening camp, with reports predicting a launch towards the end of 2023.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).