Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, and Xiaomi will soon launch a new range of sub-flagship 5G devices powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 series chip, the Snapdragon 870. While these OEMs haven't revealed any information about the devices yet, we have reason to believe that the upcoming OnePlus 9 Lite, Redmi K40, and Moto G flagship will feature the new SoC. Here's everything we know about the devices so far:
Motorola Edge S (China)/unnamed Moto G flagship
Motorola has started teasing a new phone in China called the Motorola Edge S. The company has confirmed that the device will be powered by the Snapdragon 870, and it will launch in China on January 26th. Additionally, the company has previously confirmed that it will launch a flagship Moto G series device this year, featuring a Snapdragon 800 series processor. This upcoming Moto G device could possibly be the global version of the Motorola Edge S.
Motorola has also been rumored to be working on a new flagship phone code-named "Nio", which has appeared in several leaks over the last couple of months. While the previous leaks suggested that the device will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 (sm8250-AA) or 865 Plus(sm8250-AB), now that we know that the new Snapdragon 870 (sm8250-AC) is just a variant of the Snapdragon 865, it's possible that "Nio" will feature the new chipset.
Recent leaks of the upcoming Moto G flagship have given us a good look at its design and some of its features. Leaked hands-on images of the device (via Slashleaks) suggest that it will support "Audio Zoom", which is something that we confirmed in a previous leak. The images also reveal that it will feature a quad-camera setup on the back, a dual hole-punch cutout over on the display for the selfie cameras, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
It's worth noting that the hands-on image of the front panel matches up with another live image from reputed leaker Evan Blass. Furthermore, an FCC filing of the device has confirmed that it will pack a 5,000mAh battery with support for 20W fast charging. Additionally, we've also confirmed that the Motorola Nio will feature support for a desktop mode and it'll run Android 11 out of the box.
Redmi K40
Earlier this month, Xiaomi confirmed that its upcoming Redmi K40 will feature the Snapdragon 888 SoC. However, a recent leak from Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station suggests that there will be two devices in the Redmi K40 series: a regular K40 with an "unreleased sub-flagship processor" and a K40 Pro with the Snapdragon 888. Since the leak came just a day before the official Snapdragon 870 announcement, we believe that the regular Redmi K40 will feature the new chipset. Additionally, since Xiaomi has released non-Pro/Pro Redmi K series devices in the past, this leak seems credible.
Furthermore, the folks over at XiaomiUI have corroborated the information shared by Digital Chat Station and have revealed some additional details about the regular Redmi K40. According to their post, the Redmi K40 will go by the code-name "ALIOTH" ("ALIOTHIN" for the non-NFC Indian variant), and it will feature an AMOLED display, a 4,520mAh battery, and the Snapdragon 870 chipset. It further adds that the device will feature a triple camera setup with a 48MP primary camera, an ultra-wide-angle camera, and a macro camera. The device will likely have the same design as the Redmi K40 Pro.
OnePlus 9 Lite
Late last year, renowned OnePlus tipster Max Jambor revealed that the upcoming OnePlus 9 series would include three devices — the regular OnePlus 9, the top-of-the-line OnePlus 9 Pro, and a device called the OnePlus 9E. Soon thereafter, we saw another leak claiming that the third device would be called the OnePlus 9 Lite, and it would feature similar hardware to the OnePlus 8T.
Since the OnePlus 8T packed the Snapdragon 865 chip, we initially believed that the OnePlus 9 would either feature the same SoC or the Snapdragon 865+. However, now that Qualcomm has confirmed that OnePlus is working on a Snapdragon 870-powered device, the OnePlus 9 Lite/9E will likely feature the new chipset.