Understanding the New Upper Midrange SoCs and Upgrading Wisely

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Hello everyone, in this post we’re going to look at understanding the new upper midrange SoCs and upgrading wisely.

Understanding the midrange market is difficult, especially if you are not very tech-inclined. This is where companies can and absolutely will take advantage of unsuspecting customers. This is why you as a customer should know that understanding the new upper midrange SoCs and upgrading wisely will be beneficial to you.

I’ve been updating my knowledge lately because I realized I was falling behind in understanding new things. The smartphone world changes so quickly that you can miss a lot in just a short time. That’s why I want you to join me in learning about these new things. The ARMv9 generation is about to take off, so it’s important to stay updated.

The Midrange phones are in between the very expensive ones (flagships) and the cheaper ones (entry-level). They aim to offer some of the flagship performance without the high price.

The old Midrange

Back in 2018, when I started learning about smartphones, the Midrange phones included Snapdragon 600 series and Helio P60 and P65. But by 2019 and 2020, we now had upper and lower Midrange categories instead of just “Midrange”. I remember using the Redmi Note 7 with a Snapdragon 660 in 2019. That used to be a Midrange phone, but it became a lower Midrange by then.

The smartphone world keeps changing, and what’s good today might not be the same tomorrow.

The Upper Midrange SoCs we know, like Snapdragon 732G, Snapdragon 720G, Helio G95, and G96. They are all lower Midrange now. It’s a bit sad, but things change. The SoCs that used to be great are now lower Midrange.

The new Upper Midrange

So, who’s in the new upper Midrange category? There are many new SoCs:

Some older SoCs like Snapdragon 845, 855, 855+, 860, and 865 are also in this category. The Apple Bionic 11 and A12 are also upper Midrange.

How to know new upper Midrange SoCs

You might be wondering, how do we decide if an SoC is upper Midrange? It’s simple. I look at a few things:

  1. How well it performs (CPU cores + GPU)
  2. Can it do many things at once (multitasking/storage)?
  3. How good are the cameras and videos they can make?
  4. How well can it connect to the internet and other devices?
  5. How it’s built (the process used)

The new upper Midrange SoCs usually have:

  1. Good CPUs (ARM Cortex A78) for fast performance and good GPUs. The old one uses Cortex A76. To understand ARM Cortex CPU cores, see here.
  2. Fast RAM (LPDDR4X or LPDDR5) for multitasking and at least UFS 3.1 for storage.
  3. Support for high-quality cameras and videos (108MP and 4K @60fps).
  4. 5G support, which is important for faster internet.
  5. Built using the latest technology (between 6nm to 5nm).

My advice

Some of you might be thinking about upgrading your phones, especially if you have ones from 2019, 2020, or 2021. But my advice is to wait a bit.

Hold off on buying anything until next year, or at least later this year. A big change is happening with 5G coming into play. Many companies want to sell their older 4G phones first, and then they’ll bring out new 5G phones.

So, take your time. The market is changing, and it’s better to wait and see what’s new before you decide.

Thank you for reading to the end. As always, ensure to check out our links for more information and…

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