Back in 2018, Qualcomm upgraded their mid-range 600-series with the Snapdragon 660. Shortly after, numerous phones started using this processor. It fixed the usual trend of downgrading from Snapdragon 652 and 653 to Snapdragon 625, which manufacturers started doing prior to its release. This processing chip brought a flagship-grade of performance to the mid-range and affordable phones. Let us see what its specs are, and which the best phones that use it are.
What is special about Snapdragon 660?
The Snapdragon 660 succeed the older Snapdragon 653. It is a medium-range chipset that includes several components from the much more powerful 800 series. One of the things it borrows is the Kyro 260 cores and the X12 LTE modem that first came with the flagship Snapdragon 820 and 821 models. This octa-core chipset has 4x Kyro 260 cores and 4X Cortex-A53 cores. They work on the power-efficient 14nm chipset and support the Neural Processing Engine SDK meant for machine learning. Following are the main features of Snapdragon 660:
Powerful Kyro 260 cores, 30% improvement in the graphics performance department with Adreno 512 GPU, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging, dual SIM and dual VoLTE, Improved battery life and lower heating when compared to the Snapdragon 653 model, Bluetooth 5.0 support, Spectra 160 ISP that improves the dual camera performance, and Qualcomm suite of RF front end components for an improved reception of signal.
Best phones that use Snapdragon 660
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, according to the manufacturer themselves, is the only true Snapdragon 660, as all other phones actually use the Snapdragon 660 Lite, which is a version that falls short in performance by 10% compared to the actual version. This phone also offers QuickCharge 4.0 support, a battery with 4000mAh, premium glass body, and a 6.3 inch sharp, full HD+ LTPS LCD display. The price is also quite affordable and attractive. Moreover, the rear camera has 12 MP and the front has 2 MP. Memory wise, it has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage.
- Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2
Asus Zenfone Max Pro is one of the best spec phones in that price range, as it features appealing aesthetics, a 6.26-inch display with 2340 x 1080 resolution, 3-6 GB of Ram, and 32 or 62 GB of storage. Cameras are 12 MP and 5 MP, while the battery is 5000 mAh capable of fast charging. Asus also upgraded the protection on this phone with the Gorilla Glass 6 protection. The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo. GPU is Adreno 512.
- Vivo V11 Pro
The Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has done a great job with this phone. Their V11 Pro is the first V-series that features an in-display fingerprint sensor, as well as a water-drop notch screen. Spec-wise is equipped with a 6.41 inch 1080 x 2340 display, 6 GB of RAM, 12 and 5 MP rear cameras, 25 MP front camera, a 3400 mAh battery, and 64 GB of storage.
- Realme 2 Pro
The newest manufacturer on the list gave us a serious phone that has aggressive specs to keep it above the average in the price range. Except for the Snapdragon 660 CPU, the phone comes with 8 GB RAM and 64 / 128 GB of storage, expandable by up to 256 GB with a microSD card. The battery is 3500 mAh, OS is Android 8.0 Oreo, and the phone supports dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.0, and 4G. It has a fingerprint scanner on the back, and a water-drop notch 6.3 inch IPS LCD display. The front camera is 16 MP, and rear cameras are 16 and 2 MP.
