First Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 tests: mid-range chipset, faster than flagships in 2022

Last week, Qualcomm announced the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, its new top-end mid-range chipset. It will be found on premium mid-range phones, with high specs but more affordable prices than flagship models. The new processor’s spec list suggested flagship performance, and now the first performance tests confirm this. Android Authority publication had a benchmark device equipped with this new processor, and the results are downright impressive for the mid-range area.

Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 benchmark phone outperformed both Galaxy S22 variants (Exynos and Snapdragon) in tests

This is probably the biggest performance leap on mid-range smartphones to date, with performance approaching that of some 2022 flagships, and in some cases even higher. For example, the Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors in the Galaxy S22 series are outperformed in many performance tests by the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, which comes very close to what we see on Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-equipped devices.

In GeekBench 5, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 scored 1,211 points in the Single-Core test and 4,024 in Multi-Core. These results are very close to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which scored 1,309 and 4,213 points, respectively, in the ASUS ROG Phone 6. In Single-Core it even outperforms the OnePlus 11’s 8 Gen 2, which scores just 1,170 points.

In 3DMark’s Wild Life performance test, which can demonstrate the processor’s gaming capabilities, Android Authority revealed that the new chipset managed to beat Google’s Exynos 2200 and Tensor G2, but not by much. The graphics processor still lags behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or 8+ Gen 1 models, but still delivers a major performance boost of around 2.5x over other mid-range models, such as the Snapdragon 778G Plus from Nothing Phone (1).

Sustained performance is better than on 2022 flagships, including gaming ones

What’s most interesting, however, is that the performance it delivers is fully supported, throughout use. While other top-end Snapdragon 8 processors manage to score very well in tests, but can rarely sustain performance after the first few minutes, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 seems to have no problems with overheating. The graph published by Android Authority shows a completely straight line from start to finish, with 3DMark Stress Test scores being consistent after 20 runs. In comparison, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or 8+ Gen 1-equipped models get much lower scores at the end, closer to 778G. Even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 drops a lot from the initial score on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but even under stress, that model still performs better.

At the moment we have confirmation that this processor will be released on new Realme and Redmi devices, which will most likely be sold in China. If we also see this processor on smartphones sold in the West in 2023, depending on price and cooling system chosen, models with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 could outperform many 2022 flagships still on sale, or models sold as upper mid-range with last year’s flagship chipset.