Most Oppo phones are perhaps best known for being great-looking devices, but many of them are pretty powerful too – and now we're hearing that one of the brand's upcoming devices could pack a rumored next-gen processor.
That's according to leaker Digital Chat Station, who claimed on Chinese social-networking site Weibo that Oppo is experimenting with a new chipset that may end up being called the Snapdragon 870, with plans to put it in a future smartphone.
The Snapdragon 870 is expected to be a 'lite' version of the 875, which itself is likely to be the next top-end processor we'll see in plenty of premium phones starting early 2021.
The Snapdragon 875 hasn't been formally announced yet – that's expected to happen at a Qualcomm event in December – but it'll almost definitely bring lighting-fast processing speeds to smartphones.
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If Oppo does have plans to put the Snapdragon 870 in a phone it'll likely be either the Oppo Find X3, the next iteration of its flagship line expected in February, or the Oppo Reno 5, the fifth generation of its mid-range series, which is expected in March.
The latter is more likely, as Oppo may want to use the absolute best chipsets in its most premium line, but it remains to be seen just how 'lite' the 870 is, and Oppo may decide it's a better fit for its top phones than the 875.
Then again, each of those lines is expected to include two or three phones, so we could see just one or two devices in each range with the chipset.
Is a top-end chipset necessary?
If the Oppo Find X3 does end up having this Snapdragon 870 chipset, it'll be another example of a manufacturer opting to put a mid-range processor in an otherwise premium phone, after the Google Pixel 5.
There are a few possible reasons for this: it'll lower the cost of the phone, and likely take up less internal space, but perhaps the main reason is that not too many consumers actually need maximum processing power. Most of the best mobile games are optimized to work well on middling chipsets, and relatively few people will be editing videos or large files on their smartphone.
So perhaps the Oppo Find X3 will end up being a more affordable offering than the Find X2, as the Find X2 Pro was one of the priciest phones of the year.
As mentioned, we're expecting the Oppo Find X3 and Reno 5 lines to come out in the first few months of 2021 – although we were expecting the first to be shown off at MWC 2021, which is usually in February, and that show's delay to June may push the Find launch until later. As we hear more about these upcoming phones, we'll bring you all you need to know.
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Via GSMArena
