What to expect from the next generation of Android phone processors - Android

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What to expect from the next generation of Android phone processors - Android

From Qualcomm and Samsung to MediaTek and Huawei, here's what we're expecting from processors in 2021.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra home screen against metal door

Arm has revealed its latest crop of CPUs and GPUs, set to be used in Android phone processors later this year and in 2021. From Qualcomm and Huawei to Samsung and MediaTek, we’re expecting all the major silicon players to use the new tech.

Speaking of these chip companies, what should we expect from them and the mobile SoC industry at large next year?

A massive leap in CPU power (for some)

Arm Cortex X1

The next generation of Android processors could see the biggest CPU performance leap in quite some time, as the new Cortex-X1 Arm CPU prioritizes power over efficiency. This strategy means you can expect a power increase of up to 30% compared to the Cortex-A77 used in Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek’s flagship chipsets. In fact, the Cortex-X1 is expected to be up to 23% more powerful than the Cortex-A78, announced alongside the X1.

Arm has stated that the Cortex-X1 might only be available to specific chipset makers, meaning some chip brands might be left without the hefty CPU. So expect a rather uneven playing field among Android phones if for example, Qualcomm gets access to this Arm CPU but Samsung or MediaTek don’t.

What to expect from GPUs in 2021

Arm Mali G78

Arm’s Mali-G78 GPU is a modest upgrade over the Mali-G77 seen in Samsung and MediaTek’s high-end chips. So truth be told, mobile gamers might not see a major real-world difference between the two GPUs.

This puts Arm in a rather interesting situation in 2021, especially in light of Samsung’s decision to work with AMD on smartphone GPUs. Back in July last year, Samsung said the new GPU tech will be implemented in products that launch “two years down the road,” which means it’s eyeing a 2021 launch date.

Combine Samsung and AMD’s partnership with Qualcomm’s traditionally beefy Adreno graphics, and it seems like Arm GPUs aren’t exactly hot property right now at the high end.

In saying so, the company’s Mali-G68 is the first Arm GPU in an upper mid-range family, sharing the same features as the Mali-G78 and slotting in above the Mali-G5X series. We’ve previously seen the likes of Xiaomi use a flagship Arm GPU (albeit with four cores) to great effect in the Redmi Note 8 Pro. So hopefully the G68 bring even more graphical grunt to mid-range phones.

GPUs are more important than ever in the age of high refresh rate screens, and we’re also starting to see even $200 to $300 phones offer 90Hz or 120Hz displays. High refresh rates don’t mean much if the GPU struggles to keep up, so that’s another reason why we’re glad to see the Mali-G68 plug the gap between budget and flagship mobile processors.

A switch to more efficient designs

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 in plastic case

Credit: David Imel / Android Authority


The manufacturing process used to make each chipset (measured in nanometers) is another important factor, with smaller designs equaling less power consumption. We’ve seen top-end mobile processors shrink from 28nm designs in early 2014, all the way to 7nm right now.

High-end Android phone processors are due for a switch to even smaller 5nm designs in 2021, and we’re expecting major players to all hop aboard this bandwagon. But mid-range chips usually lag behind in this regard, so they might offer 7nm or slightly bigger designs for a while yet.

New CPUs also tend to offer efficiency improvements, and Arm’s Cortex-A55 is the lightweight CPU of choice for all silicon makers, being paired with more powerful CPUs. The Cortex-A55 is long in the tooth though, having first been revealed in 2017. Unfortunately, Arm hasn’t revealed a successor to it yet, which is disappointing as it’s probably more efficient to use the newer heavyweight cores for many tasks instead. Hopefully we see a successor next year, as it could provide a major upgrade for $100 to $150 phones.

What about 5G?

The Snapdragon 765 series processor for Android phones.

Credit: David Imel / Android Authority


The shift to 5G brought with it a few aches and pains, and power consumption is one of these issues. Fortunately, the aforementioned shift to 5nm designs means new 5G chipsets will consume less power.

We’re also expecting to see the likes of Qualcomm adopt integrated modems in their flagship chipsets, enabling notable efficiency gains as well. And when combined with the switch to 5nm designs, we can expect next year’s 5G flagships to be kinder on battery life than this year’s devices.

Qualcomm’s latest X60 modem also brings a number of enhancements, such as 5G Voice-over-NR capabilities, and improved carrier aggregation for better speed and stability. The US chip giant is also bringing smaller mmWave modules to smartphones in 2021, with smaller components meaning more room for (you guessed it) bigger batteries.

Qualcomm’s rival MediaTek is also poised to improve its 5G capabilities in the future. The company still doesn’t support mmWave just yet, but previously told Android Authority that it was working on a solution.

Connectivity to get upgrades