Specifically, the Qualcomm QCM6490 octa-core SoC is used in the Fairphone 5, which is actually more intended for embedded and industrial applications. The chip has eight cores and reaches up to 2.7 gigahertz, whereby the performance should be on the level of the Snapdragon 778G 5G .
(Machine translated.)
Interesting. I'll wait for benchmarks before jumping to conclusions. Considering how Qualcomm has been raising prices, I'm not really surprised that vendors are crawling down the product line.
In the article it mentions that the SoC might have been chosen because on it's extended software support of 8 years. Industrial tier electronics also usually cost more than consumer counterparts, so unlikely a cost cutting measure
Awesome. Ars just posted their review and they mention this as well. I have not used a SD 776G phone, which they say is similar. Looking at quick benchmarks, it looks like it sits around the performance level of a SD888?
It doesn't need to compete with current gen flagships, these are just overkill anyway even for me as a heavy user also using it for my work etc. What they do need is "good enough" performance (i.e. 2/3 years old flagship performance) and a decent camera, that's I think what was lacking that actually impacts users.
This is basically Google's approach now. I'm a little disappointed that my Pixel 7 from 2022 underperforms the 2019 flagship it replaced, but it's a compromise I'm willing to make for timely security updates.
Sounds like the Fairphone 5 might be in a similar performance tier.