Snapdragon 636 vs. 660

If you’re a tech-savvy smartphone user who cares about their phone’s hardware as much as the software, you are certainly familiar with the Qualcomm name.

One of the leading manufacturers of smartphone processors, they have introduced their Snapdragon line of products a few years back. Today, some of the most popular Android phones are powered by these processors.

The Snapdragon 660 and the Snapdragon 636 are two of Qualcomm’s latest models. Let’s take a closer look at these two processors by comparing their features and performance

Basic Info

Both of these processors were introduced in 2017 as successors to the manufacturer’s earlier models.

The 636 was introduced as a replacement for the widely used 630 and provides a significant boost in terms of performance and battery life. One of the most popular smartphones that uses this processor is the Redmi Note 5 Pro by Xiaomi.

On the other hand, the 660 is even more powerful and was introduced as a replacement for the Snapdragon 653, the high-end counterpart to the Snapdragon 630. This little powerhouse can be found under the hood of the recently introduced Nokia 7 Plus.

Qualcomm assigns their products successive numbers to indicate how they compare to their earlier models. As a rule, the larger the number assigned to a processor, the better its quality. With this in mind, the Snapdragon 660 is clearly designed as a superior model to the 636, but how do they fare in terms of features and performance?

Performance

When designing these two new models, Qualcomm has made a few improvements that are directly reflected in the fact that both processors are much more efficient in terms of energy than the earlier versions. They also have significantly improved heat control, all of which results in better performance.

Both processors now have 8x Kryo 260 cores, which results in significant improvements in terms of sheer CPU power. Even though they seem quite similar on paper, the main difference between the two models is the clock speed. The 660 runs at 2.2 GHz, while the 636 runs at 1.8 GHz. This shows that the 660 is considerably faster and thus capable of handling more demanding apps like smartphone games with elaborate graphics and video editing software.

Camera Support

Your smartphone can have the best camera in the world, but you won’t find much use for it if you don’t have a high-performance processor to power it up. In terms of camera support, the 660 and the 636 share plenty of similarities, starting with Clear Sight, dual cameras, depth mapping in portrait mode, and many other advanced features.

One of the main differences between these two processors is in that they are equipped to provide optimization for different display resolutions. The 636 is designed for powering displays up to 2220×1080 pixels in resolution, while the 660 is even more powerful and thus meant for WQHD-type displays up to 2560×1600 pixels in resolution.

Charging Times

It goes without saying that everyone wants a phone that will charge fast and have an excellent battery life. As with most other technical specs, this also largely depends on how fast your phone’s processor is. Both the 636 and the 660 come with the Quick Charge feature that has won over a large number of smartphone users.

This feature is also known as “5 for 5” because five minutes of quick charging the battery will provide your smartphone with up to five hours of battery life. This goes for 2750mAh batteries, but the charging times shouldn’t differ that much for any battery in the 2700mAh-3500mAh range.

The Quick Charge feature also makes it possible to charge your battery from 0% to 50% in only 15 minutes. Keep in mind that only a small number of smartphones are actually capable of supporting this amazing feature, but their number will likely continue to grow in the future. Also, you may experience slightly slower charging times with batteries whose capacity goes above 2750mAh.

Conclusion

Although you shouldn’t choose your next smartphone solely by comparing the processors and the way they perform, the quality of the processor certainly matters.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 and 660 are both excellent, high-performance processors that have already found their way to some of the most popular smartphones on the market. You will find the 636 in the Xiaomi Redmi Note Pro 5, while the 660 is an integral part of the Nokia 7 Plus.

If you are a passionate gamer and need a phone with superior graphics, a model powered by the Snapdragon 660 might be a better choice. If games are not your thing, a Snapdragon 636-powered smartphone should do just fine.