If you’re spending time poring over Android telephone spec sheets when deciding which telephone to purchase, then you realize there are principally two processors to search for: the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip—proper now, that will be the Snapdragon 865 or barely quicker 865+—and all the things else. Smartphone processors transfer so quick that even the earlier yr’s flagship processor’s speeds are outdated information.

That’s modified this yr. Along with the high-end Snapdragon 865 that powers flagships like Samsung’s Galaxy S20 and the Snapdragon 865+ for even higher-end gaming phones, Qualcomm can be promoting the Snapdragon 765 and 765G chips, which raises the center tier considerably. While mid-range telephones have sometimes run Snapdragon 6 and 7 Series chips, the 765 is a special animal.

For one, it has an built-in 5G modem. For one other, it’s considerably cheaper than the 5G-enabled Snapdragon 865, so 765-based telephones gained’t price anyplace close to the four-figure costs flagship telephones command. In truth, the primary Sanpdragon 765G telephone to launch within the U.S. is the LG Velvet and it costs $599, significantly lower than the crop of high-end 5G telephones from Samsung and Oneplus that launched earlier within the yr.

But how does it measure as much as these telephones? I just lately received my palms on the LG Velvet and ran it by a battery of exams and got here away very impressed. While it’s nonetheless bested by the Snapdragon 865, correctly, the hole isn’t practically as broad because the earlier mid-range processor, and it might make a telephone just like the Pixel 3a really feel remarkably quick. Let’s dive in.

First, let’s set a baseline. The predecessor to the Snapdragon 765G is the 730, with a 2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Octa-core CPU. It’s a special kind of chip for a less expensive class of telephone (largely as a result of it doesn’t have 5G), but it surely’s roughly much like the 765’s 2.3 GHz Kryo 475 CPU. I don’t personal a telephone that makes use of this chip, however a smattering of exams on NotebookCheck offers a good suggestion of what to anticipate: 

Snapdragon 730

• Geekbench 5 Single: 542
• Geekbench 5 Multi: 1647
• Speedometer 2.0: 32.8
• PCMark Work 2.0: 7494

To begin my testing, I turned to the LG V60 with a Snapdragon 865 processor to maintain it within the LG household in addition to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which has the identical chip however far more RAM (8GB vs 12GB). All telephones had been up to date and restarted, and I ran the identical exams as above: Geekbench 5’s CPU exams, PCMark’s Work 2.0 Performance exams, and Browserbench’s Speedometer 2.0 take a look at (over Chrome), which measures the responsiveness of Web functions.

LG V60

• Geekbench 5 Single: 907
• Geekbench 5 Multi: 3332
• PCMark Work 2.0: 10432
• Speedometer 2.0: 74.1
  

  Christopher Hebert/IDG

Galaxy S20 Ultra

• Geekbench 5 Single: 893
• Geekbench 5 Multi: 3156
• PCMark Work 2.0: 12350
• Speedometer 2.0: 67.2

Those are actually actually good scores, as you must anticipate from telephones that price this a lot. Even although the V60 is considerably cheaper than the S20 Ultra ($950 vs $1,400), the Snapdragon 865 chip inside each of them performs higher than most Android telephones you should purchase at any value.

Adam Patrick Murray/IDG

Next up is the Asus ROG Phone 3, which is the newest decked-out gaming telephone with the entire efficiency bells and whistles, together with a barely quicker Snapdragon 865+ processor. I had oddly low outcomes from Speedometer 2.0 with this telephone so I’m not together with them, however total, the 865+ is as marketed: a bit of quicker than the usual 865. Asus additionally has a battery-sucking efficiency ‘X Mode’ that cranks the chip even greater: