When we found Snapdragon 765G on the Google Pixel 5 smartphone, it wasn’t entirely surprising because there were some rumors about this certainty going about the internet some months ago and the release of the device sort of confirmed this fact.

One thing that consumers might wonder about is whether the mid-range chipset can be just enough for a premium device as the Pixel 5 but not to worry, our hands on review of the device roved otherwise. There was a pretty smooth interaction all well done making the device’s users’ experience fascinating.

But for the records, Google opted for the Snapdragon 765G chipset basically due to the fact that its capable despite being in the mid-tier region, its still in the premium/flagship level and has powered a number of high profile smartphones successfully.

Another reason is the fact that Google wants to make the Pixel 5 as affordable as possible due to the 5G components that will be coming with the device. Remember when we mentioned Apple wanting to reduce the battery capability of its iPhone 12 to balance up for 5G while maintaining a reasonable price tag, well the same goes with the Pixel 5 as well but there is more to this.

5G smartphones are still expensive

Even though Google surprisingly pulled out 5G from the previous-gen Pixel 4 smartphone even when the network’s hype was pretty high above the roof, the 2020 Pixel 5 needed to have it considering the fact that almost every premium Android smartphones in 2020 have 5G.

Majority of the flagship devices with this network support basically cost much more than the average device on the shelf. And we’re talking about the US$1,000 price point and beyond it.

But if you ask why the hype and why 5G smartphones have to cost much more than an average smartphone, this is due to the fact that 5G phones have more components such as the mmWave technology as well as a much powerful processor to manage the device’s operation and speed and all that.

Now when we talk about the Snapdragon 865 which seems to be the gold standard for any premium smartphone in 2020, they do not feature an integrated 5G modem within them which usually require OEMs to purchase an extra 5G X55 modem with it and that costs money.

Also there is need for extra antenna and power components which adds up to the bills and at the end of it all, when an OEM such as Google is framing the pricing of its device, it might be well over US$1000 after all, they will still need to make profit as well.

Now compared to the Snapdragon 765G chipset which already have the modem integrated within it including the CPU, GPU and other components, this while being expensive isn’t as much as buying it apart. All the components are also there to enhance users’ experience in terms of the device’s speed and the likes.

The sales of Pixel smartphones isn’t reaching its full potential and if it costs too much, it might in fact drive Google’s customers away to other competitors but the company probably did the right thing with this.

The performance worry

Chipsets are basically the brains of smart devices the better, the faster but when you compare the Snapdragon 765G with the Snapdragon 865, there is barely much difference between them in terms of performances. They both have support for features such as high refresh rates on Full HD+ displays, fast charging support, HDR gaming, 40@60fps video recording and most of all, 5G with mmWave which is blazing fast.

The chipset used on the Pixel 5 will also further Google’s cause of machine learning by using its best-in-class image processing and Google Assistant thanks to the Snapdragon 765G sporting the Qualcomm’s high-end computer Vision Image Signal Processor (CV-ISP) which help it run demanding image processing tasks with low power consumption.

This feature was initially reserved to the Snapdragon 800 series but interestingly, the 700 series now sports it. The chip also has the Hexagon-DSP dedicated processor for voice and other machine learning tasks even though not as pretty fast as those on the Snapdragon 865, but it gets the job done.

Given that the Pixel 5 doesn’t include Google’s in-house Pixel Neural Core, it’s probably safe to assume that the 765G offers all the performance Google needs to run its Night Mode, HDR+, Super Res Zoom, and various voice features.

Why pay more for a high-performance chipset that you barely make full use of?

Battery life and optimization

The next and most important part of any smartphone is the battery life which is very essential if the device is going to pull any audience’s attention.

Even the Android OS in itself does the heavy lifting in several cases, its also worth noting that the battery longevity and conservation is also dependent on the processor of the device as well which is also part of the usefulness of the Snapdragon 765G chipset making it a good candidate for a 5G smartphone for that matter.

The addition of the Extreme Battery Saver mode within the system is meant to enhance the device’s battery conservation while the processor gets things running pretty fast and all that.

With two fewer big power-hungry CPU cores and less silicon area dedicated to graphics, the Snapdragon 765G sucks down less juice than its 800 series siblings for most tasks. Although this comes at the cost of peak performance, and the energy savings won’t be night and day as faster chips complete and sleep quicker. Nevertheless, the integrated 5G modem does make for more efficient networking.

Its also worth noting that the Snapdragon 765G is built using the 7nm FinFET processing which is the same as the Snapdragon 865 making it have the same energy efficiency and area density benefits which makes the Pixel 5’s 4,080mAh battery good and last long through the day.