Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 vs Snapdragon 4 Gen 2: What’s the difference?

Qualcomm has announced the latest entry in its Snapdragon 4 series, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 – but how does it compare to the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2? It’s not a straight-up upgrade that some are assuming it might be, after all.

That’s because, despite the fact that the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 came out over a year ago, it’s still the better performer of the two – in certain areas, anyway. 

If you’re curious about how the two budget chipsets compare, here are the key differences between the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 and the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2. 

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is more powerful

You might assume that, being the newer chipset of the two, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 is the more performant of the two budget-focused chipsets – but you’d be wrong. Despite the fact that the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 came out back in June 2023, it remains more powerful than the newer chipset.

That’s because, to Qualcomm, the ‘S’ branding is used to indicate a lower-power chipset that offers other benefits. 

That means that, while the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 offers CPU performance of up to 2GHz that isn’t quite up to the 2.2- or 2.3GHz of the 4 Gen 2 depending on the variant you opt for, it offers a comparable experience in other key areas – areas that we’ll get to very shortly. 

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 can support higher-res cameras

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2’s ISP is slightly more capable than that of the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 – when it comes to the megapixel count, anyway. That’s because the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 can support 108MP sensors, while the 4s Gen 2 caps out at 84MP.

Of course, there’s more to a good camera than megapixel count, so overall performance will largely depend on the specific sensors that manufacturers opt for, but it does mean that Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 devices have more pixels to play with – and that’s handy for pixel binning tech, which essentially combines multiple pixels into one in post-processing to boost both detail and light in captured images. 

It’s also worth pointing out that just because the chipsets can support 108MP and 84MP cameras, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what manufacturers will use – especially at the cheaper end of the market where sacrifices have to be made. 

The Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 has faster 5G connectivity

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is the more performant of the two chipsets, but the Snapdragon 4S Gen 2 has a trick up its sleeve in the form of faster 5G connectivity, and Gigabit 5G. 

That essentially means that the smartphones that use the 4s Gen 2 can support up to 1Gbps network speeds – though finding a carrier that’ll deliver those speeds in real-world environments is still pretty rare. 

Still, Qualcomm claims that it’s up to 7x faster than 4G LTE connectivity, and it means that the 4s Gen 2 is futureproofed to a certain extent, ready for the higher bandwidth 5G connectivity once it becomes available.

How does the regular Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 fare? It’s not that far behind, offering support for speeds of up to 900Mbps when connected to a supported 5G network – it’s just not quite as fast, in theory anyway. 

Both chipsets should be fairly power-efficient

While the full-fat Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is the more powerful of the two budget-focused chipsets, both should be on par when it comes to power efficiency, with both built on the 4nm process. 

This will, of course, depend a lot on the other components of the phones that they’re used in – the combination of a small battery and a big screen will likely see worse power drain – but when it comes to running everyday tasks, there shouldn’t be much of a difference.

Oh, and both chipsets offer support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ fast charging standard, which can enable 45W fast charging tech on smartphones – but again, as with cameras, it’s down to manufacturers to decide whether to implement the fast charging tech on their smartphones. 

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is in more devices

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is a year old, having made its debut in June 2023, and that means that manufacturers have had plenty of time to integrate it into their smartphone tech. While it’s not that widely used in smartphones that appear in the UK and US, those in other markets can find it in the likes of the Poco M6 Plus and the Xiaomi Redmi 13.

The Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, on the other hand, was only announced in July 2024, so it’ll likely be a month or two before we start seeing it appear on lower-end smartphones.