The Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 is basically a recycled Snapdragon 695

As time goes on, the chips powering our phones get more powerful. This is so that they can perform more demanding tasks and run more advanced software. However, for Qualcomm’s newest chip, it seems that the company is taking a step back. According to a new report, it seems that the new Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 is basically a recycled Snapdragon 695.

Qualcomm is going through a phase right now, and that phase is “Confusing the heck out of us with its naming convention.” We thought that the company had its releases down when it rebranded back in 2021. When it launched the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, we thought that things were clear. However, the company launched the 8+ Gen 1 in 2022, but it didn’t release a “+” variant of the 8 Gen 2.

Then, after launching the 8 Gen 3, we got the 8s Gen 3. We would assume that the “s” took over the “+” variant’s job… nope. It’s a lite version. Now, it has an 8s Gen 3, a 7s Gen 3, and a 6s Gen 3.

The Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 is basically a recycled Snapdragon 695

This is not to say that Qualcomm dug into its back-stock of Snapdragon 695s and rebranded them. Based on the specs, there are differences between the 6s Gen 3 and the 695.

However, there are just so many similarities to the 2021 chip that it’s hard to ignore. For example, both chips are fabricated on TSMC’s 6nm process. Also, they both have 2 Cortex A78 CPUs (2.2GHz for the Snapdragon 695 and 2.3GHz for the 6s Gen 3) along with 6 Cortex A55 CPUs (1.8GHz for the Snapdragon 695 and 2GHz for the 6s Gen 3).

One thing that makes this a bit confusing is the fact that the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 seems to be more powerful than the 6s Gen 3, and this chip was launched in 2021. This chip was fabricated on a 4nm process, and it has two more high-powered cores. Also, it has a newer Adreno GPU (Adreno 710 vs Adreno 619 in the 6s Gen 3). The 6 Gen 1 can also support 200MP photos (up to 108MP for the 6s Gen 3), it has a better modem (Snapdragon X62 5G for the 6 Gen 1 vs Snapdragon X51 5G for the 6s Gen 3), etc.

Qualcomm, why is your newest chip such a downgrade from a chip that hit the market almost three years ago? The 6s Gen 3 is so similar to the Snapdragon 695 that we can’t really call it a spiritual successor because a successor would have some sort of improvement. It almost seems like the company just recycled the older chip.