Qualcomm has announced a new series of Snapdragon processors at Mobile World Congress 2018: the Snapdragon 700 line. As the name suggests, the new series of chips is designed to sit between the Snapdragon 600 series — typically found in midrange devices — and the company’s top-of-the-line 800 series chips (which include the current flagship Snapdragon 845 processor found in devices like the Galaxy S9).

The 700 series is designed as a compromise between the two, offering more premium features on cheaper devices that aren’t necessarily as pricey as today’s top Android flagships. “The Snapdragon 700 Mobile Platform Series will bring premium tier technologies and features into more affordable devices,” says Alex Katouzian, a senior vice president and general manager at Qualcomm.

More premium features on cheaper devices

Specifically, Qualcomm is calling out advances in on-device AI and improvements to the camera, device performance, and power as advantages the 700 series will have over the 600 series. While details are still slim as to actual specifications for any 700 series chips, Qualcomm claims that the new line will offer up to two times better AI computations compared to the Snapdragon 660, and up to 30 percent improvements in power efficiency, along with faster performance and better battery life.

Qualcomm is planning to deliver the first Snapdragon 700 chips to commercial customers in the first half of 2018, meaning it’s possible we could see devices with the new processors as early as the end of this year or early 2019.