The Snapdragon 710 is a rather curious new beast. It is the ambassador, of sorts, to Qualcomm's fresh lineup of 700 series chips, unveiled back in February.

Currently, we have only heard news of one other 7 series chip - the Snapdragon 730. It will likely be based on a Samsung 8nm LPP manufacturing process, use different cores and even feature a dedicated NPU 120 chip for on-device machine learning tasks. It looks like a different beast altogether and is unlikely to show up before the end of 2018.

For now, we get the Snapdragon 710 - a 10nm chipset that Qualcomm is also taunting for its AR and AI capabilities. While we can't really test those out in practice, at the current stage the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE did, only recently, land in the office for review. Which means we can see just what makes the Snapdragon 710 tick and how good it is at traditional CPU and GPU tasks.

While Xiaomi was first off the line with the new 7th series, the Chinese OEM definitely isn't the only one showing major interest in the chip family. There is the vivo NEX A - the already announced little brother to the popular NEX S. A Nokia might already be on its way too. And perhaps even a Google Pixel device. This all makes us even more interested in the Snapdragon 710.

First, some specs are in order. The Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform, as Qualcomm calls it, sits above the Snapdragon 660 and below the Snapdragon 835 and 845, aiming to trickle flagship functionality down to midrangers. Some of those advanced features, in question, include a Spectra 250 image signal processor that can perform multi-frame noise reduction in images and has some depth-sensing AI smarts, baked right in.

There is also the new X15 LTE modem, which delivers 4X4 MIMO and nearly gigabit (800 Mbs actually) downlink speeds.

Also, it comes with QuickCharge 4+ support, which should make for really snappy top-offs once those chargers really start showing up in stores.

Even at first glance, we can already see what Qualcomm means, when it talks of advanced technology trickling down to midrange territory since the Snapdragon 710 is superior to the current top-dog Snapdragon 660 in connectivity chops and extra features. But, what about RAW CPU and graphics power? Also, power efficiency?

The Snapdragon 710 is a 10nm chip, just like the 835 and 845 flagships. However, it uses new Kryo 360 cores, separated into two clusters and designated as Gold and Silver, according to their overall performance. These are not your typical symmetrical clusters, but rather a two, plus six arrangement. 2 + 6 Octa-core (2.2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold – Cortex-A75 derivative + 1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver – Cortex-A55 derivative).

This, combined with the improved tech in the Kryo cores themselves, has facilitated Qualcomm's claims of 30% power efficiency on the Snapdragon 710, compared to the Snapdragon 660. And since, we've already put this off way too long, here is how GeekBench ranks the two chips, under a pure CPU-centric load.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia XZ2

2454

OnePlus 6

2450

Xiaomi Mi 8

2431

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

1974

Nokia 8 Sirocco

1934

Razer Phone

1931

Google Pixel 2 XL

1915

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

1897

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

1890

Meizu 15

1620

Oppo R15 Pro

1612

Now, keep in mind, we currently only have a single data point for the Snapdragon 710 to go on. Just to get the most accurate and representative results possible, we ran each benchmark multiple times, including actively cooled runs. We are happy to say, that in our tests the Mi 8 SE didn't show any signs of thermal throttle, not even a little bit. So kudos to Xiaomi on the cooling front.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

OnePlus 6

9011

Xiaomi Mi 8

8494

Sony Xperia XZ2

8466

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

6759

Razer Phone

6728

Nokia 8 Sirocco

6725

Google Pixel 2 XL

6428

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

5912

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

5908

Meizu 15

5877

Oppo R15 Pro

5809

CPU-wise, it is clear that the new Kryo 360 cores can't keep up with the beefier and higher-clocked, even if older Kryo 280 units in the Snapdragon 830. However, the Kryo 260 cores inside the Snapdragon 660 fall short, despite their overall higher clock rates. It is particularly interesting to see the Snapdragon 710 come out ahead, ever so slightly, in multi-threaded workloads, where one could naturally assume that having only two higher-tier cores would be a handicap. Turns out it's not, which leaves us hopeful for the efficiency potential of the chip.

More compound benchmarks, like AnTuTu, paint a pretty-much identical picture.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

OnePlus 6

264200

Sony Xperia XZ2

259244

Xiaomi Mi 8

217298

Nokia 8 Sirocco

209577

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

207072

Google Pixel 2 XL

203119

Razer Phone

190271

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

170218

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

169044

Oppo R15 Pro

146526

Meizu 15

125444

Thinking about it logically, it does make plenty of sense for Qualcomm to try and fill some of the performance segments left unoccupied by the recent rapid ramp-up in ARM processing power. The massive gap between the Snapdragon 845 and the 835, on the very same graphs, is a clear indication that there are plenty of performance niches still left to fill. If the upgrades keep rolling in at this pace, we can only expect more Qualcomm chip families to pop-up in the future.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

OnePlus 6

5160

Xiaomi Mi 8

4283

Sony Xperia XZ2

4234

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

4218

Razer Phone

4182

Google Pixel 2 XL

4167

Nokia 8 Sirocco

4156

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

3326

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

3250

Oppo R15 Pro

3058

Meizu 15

2650

BaseMark OS scores are really no different from the AnTuTu ones. For a second, the BaseMark OS 2.0 suite had us thinking there might be some minor thermal issue with the Mi 8 SE, but running the older BaseMark II quickly cleared our suspicions, attributing these fluctuations to the margin of error.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

OnePlus 6

4440

Sony Xperia XZ2

3859

Xiaomi Mi 8

3858

Razer Phone

3492

Nokia 8 Sirocco

3460

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

3458

Google Pixel 2 XL

3379

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

2796

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

2658

Meizu 15

2485

Oppo R15 Pro

2438

Moving on to graphics, Qualcomm managed to position the graphical prowess of the Adreno 616 inside the Snapdragon 710 quite neatly in-between the Adreno 512 (Snapdragon 660) and the Adreno 540 (Snapdragon 835).

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia XZ2

82

OnePlus 6

71

Xiaomi Mi 8

64

Google Pixel 2 XL

61

Razer Phone

61

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

56

Nokia 8 Sirocco

46

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

33

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

33

Meizu 15

23

Oppo R15 Pro

22

The Snapdragon 835 might be getting long in the tooth, but it still packs a punch. However, a newer GPU, like the Adreno 616, means newer and more up-to-date API and technology support. Perhaps, a good investment in future-proofing.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

OnePlus 6

58

Sony Xperia XZ2

55

Xiaomi Mi 8

53

Google Pixel 2 XL

42

Razer Phone

42

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

40

Nokia 8 Sirocco

34

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

23

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

23

Oppo R15 Pro

15

Meizu 15

15

Of course, to level the playing field, we are only looking at offscreen rendering tests here. Otherwise, the variations in native display resolution will muddy-up the results.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia XZ2

35

OnePlus 6

35

Xiaomi Mi 8

33

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

26

Google Pixel 2 XL

25

Razer Phone

25

Nokia 8 Sirocco

25

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

13

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

13

Oppo R15 Pro

9

Meizu 15

8.8

For a more compound graphics fidelity picture, there is Basemark X, which only proves our observations thus far.

Basemark X

Higher is better

Razer Phone

51455

OnePlus 6

44229

Sony Xperia XZ2

44097

Xiaomi Mi 8

43285

Google Pixel 2 XL

39143

Nokia 8 Sirocco

38476

OnePlus 5T (Oreo)

38248

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

27560

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE (Cooled)

27491

Meizu 15

20836

Oppo R15 Pro

20693

You can expect more numbers and broader comparison tests for the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE and the Snapdragon 710, once the full review comes out. For now, this was an interesting first look at the new 700 Series Qualcomm chips, their place in the current ecosystem and potential future.

We'll also do our best to reach some power efficiency conclusions about the Snapdragon 710 and its X15 LTE radio in the same Mi 8 review. Be sure to check back for more, especially once other Snapdragon 710 devices start hitting the scene.