Android fights back against iPhone with a blockbuster update coming soon

If you want the fastest smartphone on the planet there’s currently only one winner. Apple’s new A13 Bionic-powered iPhone 11 Pro has proven to be a powerhouse. The system-on-a-chip has plenty of grunt for processor-heavy tasks like video editing, Augmented Reality games, and more.

Speeds tests between the iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone 11 – which all use the same A13 Bionic chip – have embarrassed the Android competition.

According to the latest benchmark tests from Antutu, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a score of 549,717 while the nearest competition from Android (OnePlus 7T) only manages 482,881.

Along with that extra power, Apple’s A13 Bionic is also much less heavy on the battery meaning Apple users are finally getting a full day and beyond on a single charge. That’s all good news for the Apple faithful but things may soon look brighter for those who opt to keep an Android phone in their pocket.

This huge gap in speed and efficiency between iPhone and Android might soon be closed by the latest announcement from Qualcomm.

It unveiled the Snapdragon 865 during its annual Tech Summit in Hawaii and it looks set to bring a massive boost to the next generation of Android smartphones – as the vast majority of Android manufacturers opt for Qualcomm-branded chips to power their devices, including Android head honcho Google.

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Qualcomm is boasting that its new SoC will not only make devices around 25 percent faster, but also more efficient with battery life expected to be hugely improved. That’s because the Snapdragon 865 can power down its vast resources while still keeping one eye open for new commands.

That means it can save on battery life but still spring straight into action whenever you summon the Google Assistant on your locked smartphone, or pick it up to trigger the facial recognition to unlock.

And that’s not all. Other improvements will arrive in the form of better gaming on your device and a massive bump to the quality of the camera.

The new Snapdragon 865 operates at staggering speeds of up to 2 gigapixels per second and provides brand-new camera features and capabilities. This means you can capture in 4K HDR with over a billion shades of colour, capture 8K video, or snap massive 200-megapixel photos.

You can also take advantage of the gigapixel speeds to slow things down and capture every millisecond of detail with unlimited high-definition slow-motion video capture at 960 fps.

It’s not just the overall speed of the device that will improve as Qualcomm continues to push its 5G network technology. And phones packed with the new 865 and Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System will have the potential to access the web with peak speeds of up to 7.5 Gbps.

Plus, with Wi-Fi 6 also included, there’s the ability to download files at speeds of 1.8Gbps when hooked up to fast broadband.

We’ll have to wait and see how well the next generation of Android devices compare to Apple’s market-leading iPhone but hopefully, there won’t be too long to wait.

Devices based on Snapdragon 865 are expected to be commercially available in the first quarter of 2020.

“Snapdragon 865 supports the world’s most advanced 5G connectivity and features, raising the bar for what a mobile device should be,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “It’s the culmination of Qualcomm’s more than 30 years of wireless leadership and innovation.”

source: express.co.uk